UNIVERSirYgrCALIFORNIA 


COLLEGE  of  MINING 

DEPARTMENTAL 
LIBRARY 


BEQUEST  O 


SAMUELBENEDlCrCHRlSTY 

PROFESSOR  OF 
MINING  AND  METALLURGY 

1885-1914 


FAMOUS  GOLD  NUGGETS 
OF  THE  WORLD 


COMPILED    BY 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HURLEY 


MEMBER 


American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 


And 


American  Geographical  Society 


1900 


H* 


Copyright  J900,  by  Thomas  Jefferson  Hurley 


303185 


TO  THE  PROSPECTOR 

Whose  hospitality,  companionship,  hardships,  joys  and 
disappointments  I  have  often  shared,  and  whose  courage, 
patience  and  untiring  industry  have  made  it  possible  for 
the  world  to  enjoy  the  nine  thousand  millions  of  gold 
computed  to  be  in  existence,  this  volume  is  respectfully 
dedicated. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HURLEY. 


TO    THE   READER. 

In  these  days  of  wonderful  gold  discoveries  one  is 
apt  to  forget  the  big  finds  of  the  past,  which  set  the  world 
wild  with  excitement  and  gave  such  impetus  to  mining 
about  half  a  century  ago.  This  brief  account  of  famous 
gold  nuggets  will  help  to  revive  the  memories  of  the 
golden  days  of  Australia  and  California,  and  to  show  how 
history  tends  to  repeat  itself  in  gold  mining  as  well  as 
in  other  mundane  affairs.  The  data  has  been  gathered 
from  many  sources,  involving  a  large  amount  of  research, 
which  extended  over  the  face  of  the  globe.  In  procur- 
ing this  information  the  compiler  has  corresponded  with 
some  two  hundred  persons,  to  many  of  whom  he  is  in- 
debted for  whatever  credit  may  be  attached  to  his  efforts. 
He  ventures  to  believe  that  the  result  will  be  found  of 
deep  interest  to  all  concerned  in  mining  and  mining  mat- 
ters. 

For  much  of  the  material  used  the  compiler  is  in- 
debted to  the  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  and 
American  Mining  News,  of  New  York;  the  Mining  and 
Scientific  Press,  of  San  Francisco;  Mining  Reporter,  of 
Denver;  Mining  Record,  of  Colorado  Springs;  the  Aus- 
tralian Mining  Standard,  of  Melbourne;  Mining  and  Me- 
tallurgical Journal,  Los  Angeles,  California;  ex-United 
States  Mining  Commissioner  R.  W.  Raymond,  and  rep- 
resentative mining  engineers  residing  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  With  one  exception,  no  mention  is  made  of  nug- 
gets found  in  South  America  or  Mexico,  the  compiler 
having  been  unable  to  collect  reliable  data  from  these 
countries,  excepting  as  to  their  gross  gold  and  silver 
output.  T.  J.  H. 


FAMOUS  GOLD  NUGGETS. 

Gold  mining  has  made  rapid  strides  during  the  past 
decade.  Not  only  has  the  enormous  wealth  of  South 
Africa  astonished  the  world,  but  the  exploration  of  the 
rich  fields  of  Cripple  Creek,  Oregon,  Idaho,  Utah,  Brit- 
ish Columbia  and  other  mining  sections  of  this  continent 
has  also  revealed  vast  storehouses  of  the  yellow  metal. 
Nearly  every  district  has  its  stories  of  great  strikes  and 
immense  outputs.  On  all  sides  we  hear  of  wonderful 
pannings,  of  splendid  mill  runs,  of  the  discovery  of  pock- 
ets and  nuggets  that  bid  fair  to  rival  the  grand  finds  of 
the  golden  days  of  California  and  Australia. 

The  twentieth  century  has  been  pre-eminently  the  age 
of  gold.  From  1492  to  1850  the  total  gold  production  of 
the  world,  as  estimated  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  at 
Washington,  D.  C.,  was  $3,129,720,000.  From  1851  to 
1899  the  total  product  was  $6,665,631,000,  or  more  than 
twice  as  much  as  during  the  entire  350  years  preceding 
the  half  century  now  closing.  The  additions  to  the 
world's  supply  of  gold  during  the  past  four  years  was  as 

follows : 

Gold  production  in  Total  gold  production 
Date.                    United  States.  in  the  world. 

1896   $53,088,000  $202,251,000 

1897   57.363.ooo  238,812,000 

1898   64,463,000  287,428,000 

.... 72,500,000  315,000,000 


Total $247,414.000  $1,043,491,000 


It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  that,  though  the  diam- 
eter of  the  earth  separates  them,  though  one  lies  towards 
the  South  Pole  and  the  other  towards  the  North  Pole, 
and  a  half  century  intervenes  between  the  discoveries, 
there  is  a  singularity  in  the  history  of  mining  in  Australia 
and  South  Africa  and  that  in  Alaska  and  the  great  North- 
west. In  each  case  the  aborigines  knew  of  the  existence 
of  the  yellow  metal  long  before  the  information  reached 
civilization.  Both  were  barren  territories  and  remote 
from  the  haunts  of  civilized  man,  and  the  early  miners 
experienced  terrible  hardships  before  the  glittering  result 
of  their  labor  exerted  its  powerful  influence  in  moderniz- 
ing the  bleak  and  desolate  sections  where  nature  had  hid- 
den the  golden  treasure. 

Gold  seems  to  have  always  exerted  a  magnetic  influ- 
ence on  mankind.  Its  power  of  fascination  was  felt  as 
much  in  the  "dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time"  as  it 
is  in  these  days  of  higher  civilization.  King  Solomon 
was  as  noted  for  his  store  of  gold  as  for  his  wisdom,  but 
long  before  that  astute  monarch  reigned  the  yellow  metal 
was  highly  prized  and  used  extensively  in  primitive  arts 
and  manufactures.  The  earliest  known  coinage  of  gold 
was  about  800  years  B.  C.  in  the  time  of  Miletus.  Four 
centuries  later,  it  is  recorded,  the  Sicilians  used  it  for 
coinage  purposes.  In  the  earlier  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  placer  mining  was  well  established  in  Southwest- 
ern Europe,  the  Ural  Mountains  and  Asia  Minor.  We 
have  nothing  authentic,  however,  in  the  way  of  statistics 
of  gold  mining  previous  to  the  discovery  of  North  and 

8 


South  America,  but  since  then  the  world's  annual  pro- 
duction of  gold  is  pretty  well  known. 

The  big  gold  discoveries  of  this  century  began  in 
California  in  1847,  m  Australia  in  1851  and  in  British  Co- 
lumbia a  few  years  later.  Then  came  the  strikes  in 
Queensland  and  New  South  Wales,  followed  by  those 
in  the  Transvaal  in  1868,  and  the  Witwatersrand  in  1886. 
Now  there  are  frequent  strikes,  not  only  in  South  Africa, 
but  in  many  of  our  Western  States.  The  opening  up  of 
Cripple  Creek,  whose  output  this  year  will  be  in  the 
neighborhood  of  $30,000,000,  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
the  times.  But  there  have  been  no  great  placer  finds  in 
recent  years  equalling  those  in  Alaska  and  the  Klondike, 
and  it  is  the  ease  with  which  the  gold  is  obtained  that 
has  attracted  so  many  thousands  to  the  beaches  and 
creeks  of  the  far  Northwest. 

The  entire  production  of  gold  in  the  United  States 
from  1790  to  1848  amounted  to  only  $34,000,000.  The 
next  year  alone  $40,000,000  of  the  metal  was  taken  out  of 
California  soil,  and  since  that  period  a  total  of  $2,500,000,- 
ooo  has  been  mined  in  the  United  States.  After  the  great 
discovery  in  California  in  1874  the  product  of  the  mines 
there  ran  up  to  more  than  $50,000,000  a  year,  but  this 
was  beaten  by  Australia,  where  in  eight  years,  from  1851, 
a  total  of  $500,000,000  was  mined,  or  an  average  of  more 
than  $60,000,000  a  year.  One  nugget  found  in  the  Aus- 
tralian field,  weighing  146  pounds,  was  bought  for  Queen 
Victoria  in  1858.  After  the  first  ten  years  in  California 
the  gold  output  of  the  United  States  became  steady,  as 

9 


new  finds  in  other  Pacific  coast  States  averaged  the  losses 
caused  by  the  failure  of  older  mines  to  produce  more  of 
the  metal. 

Antonio  de  Alvedo,  a  noted  geographer  of  the  last 
century,  in  writing  of  a  visit  to  California,  said  that  all  the 
ravines  and  plains  contained  gold  scattered  up  and  down. 
He  gave  a  glowing  account  of  the  then  little  known  coun- 
try in  1789,  but  no  adventurers  went  there  to  find  the  gold 
that  he  told  about.  The  white  population  was  not  much 


Nugget  Found  at  Sam  Christian   Mine,  Montgomery  County,  N.   C,  on 

Southern  Railway.     Weight  4  Pounds.    Picture  About 

Four-Sevenths  Actual  Size. 

over  16,000  when  General  S  utter  and  others  made  the 
first  discovery  in  1847.  ^n  l&4&  the  output  of  the  Cali- 
fornia field  was  $5,000,000.  In  the  next  five  years  a  to- 
tal of  $260,000,000  was  taken  from  the  gold  fields  of  the 

10 


State.  From  the  period  of  the  first  discovery  up  to  Janu- 
uary  I  of  last  year  the  total  yield  of  California  has  been 
$1,314,076,658,  or  an  average  for  the  50  years  of  $26,- 
283,533 — a  record  which  far  outstrips  that  of  any  other 
State  in  the  Union. 

In  the  early  days  many  men  found  nuggets  of  the  size 
of  hen's  eggs,  and  a  few  washed  out  chunks  as  large  as 
apples.  It  was  poor  diggings  where  $20  or  $25  worth  of 
gold  was  not  panned  or  rocked  out  in  a  day.  The  best 
average  day's  work  of  a  common  miner,  working  alone, 
yielded  about  two  and  a  half  ounces  of  gold,  worth  about 
$50.50.  Now  we  hear  of  men  cleaning  up  several  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  in  a  single  day  in  Alaska  and  the  Klon- 
dike. 

In  1852  the  men  who  individually  washed  gold  became 
scarce,  and  companies  of  miners  were  formed  to  carry  on 
work  on  a  large  scale — to  dam  streams,  to  make  canals 
for  draining  rivers  and  for  washing  away  great  banks  of 
earth  by  water  power,  and  to  construct  "long  Toms"  on 
a  mammoth  plan.  These  companies  had  a  capital  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  and  in  many  instances  of  millions  of 
dollars.  We  have  no  doubt  that  organized  effort  will  pro- 
duce the  best  results  in  Alaska  and  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory. Gold  mining  is  no  longer  a  field  for  individual  ef- 
fort. Nowadays  mining  is  dependent  upon  system,  sci- 
ence and  the  fine  economy  which  makes  profit  possible.  In 
the  Territories  named,  as  in  California,  the  largest  profits 
will  come  from  the  operators  of  combined  capital.  Good 
companies  are  well  organized  and  choose  only  competent 

1 1 


men  for  their  work,  and  these  men  go  into  the  field  much 
better  equipped  and  prepared  for  achieving  results  than 
any  individual. 

William  Ogilvie,  the  Dominion  Land  Surveyor,  a 
responsible  official  of  great  experience,  declares  that  there 
are  $70,000,000  of  gold  already  in  sight  in  the  Klondike 
gold  region,  and  that  it  will  be  taken  out  by  the  individual 
efforts  of  the  5,000  miners  located  in  and  around  Dawson 
City.  But  well  managed  corporations  will  some  day  work 
the  tailings  left  by  those  individuals,  and  by  scientific, 
methodical  and  economical  management  produce  an 
amount  of  bullion  equal  to  forty  per  cent,  of  the  original 
amount  mined,  which  will  be  a  great  and  instructive  les- 
son of  the  amount  of  gold  lost  by  individual  and  crude 
systems  of  mining. 

But  it  is  of  the  famous  gold  nuggets  of  the  world,  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  were  found  and  their 
value,  rather  than  of  the  general  characteristics  and  pros- 
pects of  particular  gold  camps,  this  pamphlet  is  to  treat. 


12 


LJ. 

Nearly  all  great  gold  nuggets  have  a  history  known 
not  only  to  the  miners  of  the  district  and  country  in  which 
they  were  found,  but  to  well  informed  mining  men 
throughout  the  world.  In  describing  some  of  them,  how- 
ever, we  must  rely  on  information  which  in  many  cases  is 
not  official,  but  is  simply  the  legend  of  the  prospectors' 
camp,  as  related  evenings  by  the  hardy  miners  while  seat- 
ed around  a  camp  fire,  resting  from  the  weary  search  of 
the  day.  It  is  this  information,  however,  that  keeps  alive 
the  everlasting  hope  of  ultimately  striking  it  rich  them- 
selves. The  world  is  indebted  to  the  prospector,  whose 
courage,  patience  and  untiring  industry  has  made  it  pos- 
sible for  it  to  enjoy  the  $9,000,000,00x3  of  gold  computed 
to  exist  in  the  world  to-day. 

No  large  nuggets  have  yet  been  found  in  the  Klondike. 
The  largest  nugget  of  which  we  have  any  official  record 
there  is  one  weighing  34  troy  ounces,  and  worth  $583, 
taken  from  Claim  36,  on  Eldorado  Creek. 

We  believe  the  largest  nugget  found  in  the  Yukon 
was  the  one  found  last  summer  on  Claim  34,  Eldorado 
Creek,  Klondike,  which  weighed  over  72  ounces,  value 

$1,158. 

The  accompanying  engraving  is  made  from  a  photo- 

13 


graph,  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  Engineering 
and  Mining  Journal.  It  shows  the  largest  nugget  so  far 
found  in  that  region.  The  hand  in  which  it  is  held  will 
enable  the  reader  to  estimate  the  size  very  nearly. 


Gold  Nugget  from  Atlin  Lake  District,  British  Columbia. 

This  nuggest  was  found  on  Spruce  Creek;  it  was 
taken  out  126  feet  below  the  surface.  Its  weight  is  84 
ounces,  and  the  contents  in  pure  gold  are  estimated  at. 
50  ounces.  It  was  found  on  July  8th,  1899.  Its  value 
is  about  $1,000. 

We  have  reports  of  thousands  of  golden  nuggets  the 
size  of  beans,  and  worth  about  $i  each,,  and  hundreds 
the  size  of  gravel  stones.  We  are  indebted  to  the  late 
George  M.  Dawson,  Director  of  Mines  for  Canada,  for 


the  fact  that  a  nugget  weighing  52  ounces  was  found  on 
a  branch  of  the  Gilbert  River,  Province  of  Quebec,  in 
1866,  and  another  later  weighing  45  ounces.  The  cir- 
cumstances of  finding  the  nugget  was  as  follows:  A 
little  girl  named  Clotilde  Gilbert  was  crossing  a  ford  of 
the  stream  when  she  found  in  the  sand  a  nugget  about 
the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg.  Her  own  account  as  given 
by  Mrs.  Chapman  is  as  follows :  "My  father  sent  me 
on  Sunday  morning  for  a  horse  in  the  field  to  go  to  mass ; 
when  crossing  the  stream  I  saw  something  shining  along- 
side the  water  and  took  it  up  to  show  my  father.  I  never 
thought  that  such  a  pebble  would  make  so  much  noise 
afterwards." 

No  other  discovery  has  been  made  on  this  continent 
that  so  closely  resembles  the  Yukon  diggings  as  the  sand- 
bars along  the  American,  Yuba,  Stanislaus  and  Trinity 
Rivers,  in  California,  in  the  memorable  years  of  i848-'49- 
'50.  But  the  most  important  nugget  ever  found  in  the 
United  States,  and  around  which  the  most  interest  cen- 
tres for  Americans,  not  because  of  its  size,  but  because 
its  finding  marked  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  for  the  Pacific 
slope,  is  the  one  found  by  Peter  L,.  Winner  and  James 
W.  Marshall  in  the  year  1848.  It  was  only  about  the  size 
of  a  lima  bean,  but  it  started  the  enormous  emigration 
from  the  East  to  the  Pacific  Slope  and  California,  caused 
the  opening  up  and  development  of  her  mineral  indus- 
tries, and  was  the  forerunner  of  the  more  than  $2,000,- 
000,000  worth  of  bullion  that  have  since  been  mined  from 
the  golden  area  of  the  West. 

15 


The  mining  claim,  however,  which  holds  the  world's 
record  for  the  greatest  production  of  gold  nuggets,  both 
as  to  size,  value  and  quantity,  is  the  Reed  Mine,  in  Ca- 
barras  County,  North  Carolina,  within  twenty-four  hours' 
ride  by  rail  from  New  York  city.  Taking  the  nuggets  in 
the  order  of  their  weight,  and  not  chronologically,  the 
Reed  Mine  has  yielded  nuggets  weighing  28  pounds,  17 
pounds,  1 6  pounds,  13^  pounds,  9^  pounds,  two  9  pounds, 
two  8  pounds,  5  pounds,  3^  pounds,  two  2  pounds,  and  if 
pounds,  and  an  even  peck  of  gold  the  size  of  beans  and 
peas.  The  first  discovery  was  made  by  a  slave,  as  were 
also  the  1 7-pound  and  1 6-pound  nuggets.  In  addition  a 
quartz  vein  has  been  developed  that  assays  from  $10  to 
$300  to  the  ton. 

The  next  greatest  find  in  North  Carolina  was  on  th? 
property  near  Albemarle,  Stanley  County,  now  owned  by 
the  United  Goldfields  Corporation.  They  have  now  for 
safe  keeping  in  the  vaults  of  a  New  York  trust  com- 
pany a  loj-pound  nugget,  one  8£  pounds,  another  5} 
pounds,  and  one  weighing  3  pounds,  besides  a  dozen 
of  about  i  pound  and  a  couple  of  quarts  of  smaller  pieces. 
Like  the  Reed  Mine,  this  property  has  enormous  ledges  of 
gold  quartz.  It  may  be  well  to  mention  that  the  first 
gold  ever  discovered  in  the  United  States  was  found  in 
North  Carolina,  the  records  of  the  United  States  Mint  as 
far  back  as  1793  showing  several  thousand  dollars  of 
gold  from  that  State.  It  is  claimed  that  an  So-pound 
nugget  was  found  near  the  Reed  Mine,  but  we  have  no 
official  data  as  to  the  discovery. 

16 


The  Reed  plantation,  with  its  yield  of  nearly  $60,000 
in  big  nuggets  alone,  and  its  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
dollars  in  smaller  nuggets  and  dust,  was  not  the  only 
phenomenal  producer  of  gold  in  the  pioneer  American 
diggings.  The  Beaver  Dam  Mine,  in  Montgomery 
County,  was  a  wonder.  This  was  the  property  of  a  man 
named  Thomas  Fancy,  who  up  to  the  time  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  on  it  was  a  thrifty,  steady-going  citizen. 
When  he  began  picking  up  $700  worth  of  gold  a  day, 
.however — which  was  the  amount  his  diggings  yielded 
for  months — his  sudden  riches  turned  his  head.  He  took 
to  drink,  and  indulged  in  all  sorts  of  extravagances.  He 
was  a  great  deer  hunter,  and  it  is  said  that  it  became 
his  favorite  pastime  to  go  hunting  with  bullets  run  from 
pure  gold.  Old  residents  of  the  locality  tell  of  the 
killing  of  a  buck  by  a  hunter,  long  after  Fancy's  death, 
in  the  shoulder  of  which,  when  this  deer  was  dressed,  he 
found  a  flattened  piece  of  gold,  while  in  its  hip  was  an- 
other, nearly  $100  worth  of  gold  in  all.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  these  were  a  pair  of  Fancy's  bullets  with  which 
he  had  wounded  the  deer  some  time  when  he  was  hunting. 
Fancy  drank  himself  to  death  while  his  property  was 
still  yielding  a  fortune. 

If  the  Barringer  farm,  in  Stanley  County,  were  giving 
up  its  gold  as  it  did  formerly,  it  would  be  a  good  enough 
Klondike  for  any  ordinary  man.  The  owner  of  this  prop- 
erty \vashed  for  months  out  of  the  gravel  in  the  small 
creek  that  flowed  through  it  from  300  to  500  penny- 
weights of  gold  a  week.  At  last  he  came  to  the  end  of 

17 


the  gravel  deposit,  and  out-cropping  from  a  knoll  at  the 
side  of  the  creek,  noticed  a  peculiar  rock  formation.  He 
knew  nothing  about  mining,  but  he  conceived  the  idea 
that  in  those  rocks  was  the  hidden  source  of  the  gold 
found  in  the  creek. 

He  dug  into  the  hill  three  feet  and  came  to  a  nest  of 
gold  in  quartz,  from  which  he  took  out  1,500  penny- 
weights that  day.  Next  day  he  dug  further  and  found 
another  pocket,  from  which  he  took  1,000  pennyweights 
of  gold,  making  the  yield  of  the  little  knoll  $2,500  in  two 


Nugget   Found  at  Sam  Christian   Mine,  Montgomery  County,  N.  C.,  on 
Southern  Railway.    Weight  2  Pounds.    Picture  One-Half  Actual  Size. 

-  ••'« 
days.     The  creek  had  already  given  up  $10,000  in  less 

than  a  mile.  Barringer  dug  down  twelve  feet  deeper 
and  found  $1,000  more  gold,  but  he  had  got  below  the 
water  level,  and  the  water  broke  through  from  the  creek 
and  flooded  his  mine.  Before  he  could  repair  the  damage 
his  title  to  the  property  was  questioned,  and  litigation  was 
begun,  which,  although  more  than  a  generation  has 

18 


passed,  is  still  unsettled,  and  the  Barringer  Mine  remains 
as  it  was  left  when  the  water  came  in,  with  -all  its  hidden 
riches  intact.  This  was  the  first  gold  quartz  vein  un- 
covered in  the  United  States. 

The  famous  old  mining  county  of  Calaveras,  Cali- 
fornia, has  furnished  some  of  the  most  noteworthy  chunks 
of  gold  found  in  that  State,  but  the  largest  have  been 
mixed  generally  with  quartz.  A  fourteen-year-old  boy 
named  Perkins  was  working  at  a  plaything  of  a  water 
wheel  in  the  bed  of  an  old  worked  over  mountain  stream 
in  the  summer  of  1858,  and  stumbled  upon  a  nugget  of 
gold  and  quartz  as  large  as  a  cocoanut.  The  chunk  sold 
for  about  $1,800.  The  strange  thing  about  it  is  that  the 
gold  had  probably  lain  where  it  was  found  among  the 
remnants  of  the  washings  for  several  years,  and  hundreds 
of  miners  had  passed  that  spot  searching  for  the  yellow 
metal. 

George  H.  Norman  and  Frank  Aman  found  near  Gib- 
sonville,  in  1867,  a  nugget  that  weighed  over  100  ounces 
and  was  worth  $1,700.  In  1851,  at  French  Ravine,  a 
lump  of  gold  and  quartz  together  was  discovered  from 
which  $8,000  in  gold  was  taken.  In  1855  a  nugget  of 
gold  and  quartz  found  in  the  same  ravine  returned  $10,- 
ooo.  At  Minnesota,  in  the  same  county,  a  nugget  that 
weighed  266  ounces  was  found.  This  was  valued  at 
$5,000.  At  French  Ravine,  in  1850,  a  mass  of  gold  and 
quartz  was  picked  up  that  weighed  263  ounces  and  was 
worth  $4,893. 

•In  Placer  County,  in   1859,  Edward  Gilbert,  in  his 


drift  mine  near  Butcher  Ranch,  twelve  miles  from  Au- 
burn, found  a  nugget  of  gold  and  quartz  that  weighed 
twenty  pounds.  Eight  pounds  of  this  he  sold  for  $1,536, 
and  the  remaining  twelve  pounds  for  $1,728,  making 
$3>264  for  the  nugget.  The  same  man,  many  years  later, 
discovered  in  the  same  mine  another  valuable  nugget.  It 
was  10  inches  long,  3  to  7  inches  wide,  and  over  an  inch 
thick.  The  gold  was  embedded  in  a  mass  of  crystallized 
quartz,  with  clear  cut  corners,  the  sides  of  which  shone 
with  great  brilliancy.  When  thoroughly  cleaned  it 
weighed  147  ounces,  and  it  was  sent  to  the  San  Francisco 
Mint,  where  it  brought  $2,852.  In  1864,  near  Michigan 
Bluff,  a  nugget  of  pure  gold  weighing  226  ounces  and 
valued  at  $4,204  was  found.  In  July,  1876,  J.  B.  Col- 
grove,  of  Dutch  Flat,  found  a  white  quartz  boulder  in 
the  Polar  Star  Mine  which  contained  $5,700  worth  of 
gold. 

Several  small  fortunes  have  come  to  men  who  picked 
up  gold  nuggets  in  Shasta  County,  California.  One  of 
the  most  important  was  found  in  May,  1870.  Oliver 
Longchamp,  Fred  Rochon  and  another  Frenchman  drove 
into  the  old  town  of  Shasta  in  search  of  a  spot  to  mine. 
They  happened  to  have  business  with  A.  Coleman,  a 
dealer  in  hardware  and  notions.  The  three  asked  him 
where  was  a  good  place  to  mine.  He  carelessly  pointed 
to  a  northerly  direction  and  said,  "Go  over  to  Spring 
Creek."  They  took  his  advice,  and  located  a  claim  on  the 
creek  some  eight  miles  north  of  Redding.  A  few  days 
afterward  one  of  the  Frenchmen  picked  up  a  nugget 

20 


valued  at  $6,200.  Ten  years  later  Dent  Young  found  a 
$520  nugget  on  Flat  Creek,  near  where  the  Frenchmen 
found  theirs. 

The  biggest  nugget  found  in  California  in  the  last 
thirty  years  was  picked  up  in  Sierra  County.  It  was 
melted  less  than  twelve  years  ago  by  a  New  York  gold- 
smith, after  it  had  been  used  far  and  wide  for  exhibition 
purposes.-  In  August,  1869,  W.  A.  Farish,  A.  Wood,  J. 
Winstead,  F.  N.  L.  Clevering  and  Harry  Warner  were 
partners  in  the  Monumental  Claim,  near  Sierra  Buttes,  in 
Sierra  County.  In  the  last  week  of  that  month  they  dis- 
covered a  gold  nugget  which  weighed  1,593  ounces,  troy. 
It  was  sold  to  R.  B.  Woodward,  of  San  Francisco,  who 
paid  for  it  $13,500  for  exhibition  purposes.  When  it  was 
melted  about  $9,800  was  realized. 

Although  Plumas  County,  away  up  toward  the  Oregon 
line  and  near  the  Modoc  lava  bed,  is  one  of  the  richest 
counties  in  California  in  minerals  and  has  made  a  dozen 
men  millionaires  of  several  degrees,  it  has  yielded  few 
valuable  nuggets.  The  largest  was  found  by  a  Chinaman 
near  the  mouth  of  Nelson  Creek.  It  was  worth  $2,800. 
A  miner  in  Elizabethtown,  Archie  Little,  discovered  a 
$2,600  nugget,  and  Hays  and  Steadman  found  one  above 
Mohawk  Valley,  near  the  county  line,  that  weighed  420 
ounces  and  was  worth  $6,700. 

Eldorado  County,  where  gold  was  first  found  in  Cali- 
fornia, yielded  the  first  big  nugget  found  in  that  State. 
In  1850  a  121  ounce  chunk  of  gold  was  dug  out  with  a 
common  spade  from  the  bank  of  the  American  River,  near 

21 


Lawson's  bar.  It  brought  $19,400.  Another  was  found 
near  Kelsey,  in  the  same  county,  and  it  sold  for  $4,700 
in  1867.  "Pilot  Hill,"  a  boulder  of  quartz  gold,  yielded 
$8,000.  This,  with  several  small  nuggets,  was  taken 
from  the  Boulder  Gravel  Claim,  near  Pilot  Hill  Post- 
office.  Several  large  and  valuable  gold  nuggets  were  dis- 
covered in  Tuolumne  County.  In  1853  a  mass  of  gold 
weighing  360  ounces  was  found  at  Columbus.  This  was 
valued  at  $5,625.  At  Gold  Hill,  in  the  same  county,  a 
man  named  Virgin  found  one  weighing  380  ounces  and 
valued  at  $6,500.  A  Frenchman  in  Spring  Gulch,  near 
Columbia,  in  the  same  county,  found  one  of  almost  pure 


Nugget  Found  at  Crawford   Mine,  Stanley  County,  N.  G.,  Near  Southern 

Railway,  April  8th,  1895.     Weight  8  Pounds,  5  Ounces, 

Picture  About  Three-Fifths  Act  ual  Size. 

gold  which  was  worth  $5,000.  The  discovery  made  the 
miner  insane  on  the  following  day,  and  he  was  sent  to 
the  Stanton  Asylum.  The  nugget  was  sold  and  the 
money  for  it  sent  to  his  family  in  France.  Near  the 

22 


Knapp  Ranch,  half  a  mile  east  of  Columbia,  Daniel  Strain 
discovered  a  large  gold  quartz  nugget  which  weighed  50 
pounds.  After  the  quartz  was  crushed  and  the  gold 
melted  the  profit  was  $8,500.  On  Sullivan's  Creek,  in 
the  same  county,  in  1854,  a  28-pound  nugget  was  picked 
up  by  one  of  the  pioneers  ;  it  sold  for  $7,168. 

What  was  known  as  the  " Sailor  Diggings,"  near 
Downieville,  were  wonderfully  rich  in  nuggets.  The 
claims  were  owned  and  worked  by  a  party  of  English 
sailors  in  1851.  These  claims  produced  one  nugget 
weighing  thirty-one  pounds,  and  a  number  of  others 
weighing  from  five  to  fifteen  pounds.  This  party  re- 
turned with  their  wealth  to  England,  and,  exhibiting  their 
collection  of  nuggets  and  various  fancy  specimens  in  all 
the  large  towns,  infected  great  numbers  of  people  with 
the  gold-hunting  mania.  Just  at  this  time,  April,  1851, 
came  the  world-startling  news  of  the  great  gold  discov- 
eries in  Australia. 

Many  rich  pockets  of  gold  have  been  found  by  acci- 
dent. One  of  the  richest  of  the  pocket  mines  in  Cali- 
fornia was  that  struck  in  the  Morgan  mine  on  Carson 
Hill,  Calaveras  County,  from  which  $110,000  was  thrown 
out  at  one  blast.  The  gold  so  held  the  quartz  together, 
says  a  writer  in  Mining  Reporter,  of  Denver,  that  it 
had  to  be  cut  apart  with  cold  chisels.  It  is  estimated 
that  this  mine  yielded  $2,800,000  in  the  years  1850  and 
1851,  and  new  pockets  have  since  been  discovered  almost 
yearly  somewhere  in  the  peculiar  formation  at  and  about 
Carson  Hill. 

23 


The  telluricle  veins  of  Sierra  County,  extending  from 
Minnesota  to  the  South  Yuba,  have  been  prolific  of  pock- 
ets. A  big  pocket  found  in  the  Fellows  mine,  on  this  belt, 
yielded  $250,000.  Several  other  pockets  yielding  from 
$5,000  to  $50,000  have  been  found  in  this  region. 

Many  rich  pockets  have  been  found  about  Grass  Val- 
ley, Nevada  County ;  Auburn,  Placer  County,  and  Sonora, 
Tuolumne  County.  The  Reese  pocket,  Grass  Valley, 
contained  $40,000.  This  sum  was  pounded  out  in  a  hand- 
mortar  in  less  than  a  month.  Near  Grass  Valley  a  pocket 
that  yielded  $60,000  was  found  by  a  sick  "pilgrim,"  who 
was  in  search  of  health  and  knew  nothing  about  pros- 
pecting or  mining. 

The  Green  Emigrant  pocket  vein,  near  Auburn,  was 
found  by  an  emigrant  who  had  never  seen  a  mine.  It 
yielded  $100,000.  This  find  was  made  within  thirty  yards 
of  a  road  that  had  been  traveled  daily  for  twenty  years. 
No  more  pay  was  found  after  the  first  pocket  was 
worked. 

The  Deval  pocket,  in  Sonora,  alongside  the  main 
street  of  the  town,  yielded  $200,000  in  1879.  It  was 
nearly  all  taken  out  in  three  weeks.  The  "grit  specimen," 
showing  aborescent  crystallization,  sent  to  the  Paris  Ex- 
position, was  found  in  Spanish  dry  diggings,  El  Dorado 
County,  weighed  over  twenty  pounds  and  contained  about 
$4,000  in  gold.  About  $8,000  additional  of  the  same  kind 
of  gold  crystals  was  taken  from  the  same  pocket.  The 
formation  at  this  place  was  slate  and  a  fine  grained  sand- 
stone, filled  with  crystals  of  iron  pyrites  in  cubes. 

24 


In  American  Camp,  between  the  forks  of  the  Stanis- 
laus, in  1880,  Le  Roy  Reid  found  a  pocket  in  the  "grass 
roots"  from  which  he  took  out  $8,200.  Near  Magilla, 
Butte  County,  in  1879,  a  pocket  paid  its  finder  $400  for 
two  hours'  work. 

Outside  of  California  few  nuggets  of  note  have  been 
found  in  any  of  the  Pacific  Coast  States  and  territories. 
Colorado's  biggest  nugget,  known  as  "Tom's  Baby," 
weighing  156  ounces,  or  13  pounds  troy,  was  taken  from 
the  Gold  Flake  mine  on  Farmcomb  Hill,  Summit  County, 
Colorado,  July  23d,  1877.  We  have  been  unable  to  get 
reliable  information  with  reference  to  other  great  nuggets 
found  in  Colorado,  but  we  learn  that  last  January  a  man 
in  Denver  found  a  nugget  worth  about  a  dollar  in  the 
craw  of  a  turkey  gobbler.  An  effort  to  locate  the  ranch 
where  the  gobbler  spent  his  happy  boyhood  days  failed, 
and  that  placer  ground,  so  far  as  known,  is  still  to  be 
discovered. 

Montana  is  showing  a  collection  of  nuggets  worth 
$12,000  at  the  Paris  Exposition.  The  biggest  of  them  is 
of  the  size  of  a  small  paving  block  and  weighs  five  pounds. 
It  is  worth  $1,050.  One  beautifully  symmetrical  speci- 
men in  the  collection  weighs  48  ounces,  and  is  so  pure 
that  it  is  worth  $21  an  ounce,  or  $1,000,  while  there  are 
three  others  that  weigh  from  45  to  20  ounces  each.  Four 
or  five  more  go  above  ten  ounces  and  a  dozen  more 
above  two.  There  are  thirty-eight  nuggets  of  about  an 
ounce  each  and  forty  of  smaller  size,  besides  a  pound  of 
dust  purer  than  if  filed  from  a  double  eagle.  A  handful 

25 


of  sapphires  and  another  of  rubies,  all   Montana  speci- 
mens, complete  this  collection. 


TOM'S    BABY." 

The  Largest  Gold  Nugget  Ever  Found   in   Colorado    <  156  Ounces  or  13 

Lbs.  Troy.)    Taken  From  Gold  Flake  Mine  on  Farmcomb  Hill, 

Summit  Co.,  Colorado,  July  23,  1887. 

Nuggets  assaying  $15  an  ounce,  one  having  a  value 
of  $29,  were  found  this  summer  in  Confederate  Gulch, 

26 


near  Diamond,  Montana.  The  mine  from  which  they 
were  taken  is  producing  the  richest  gold  ore  smelted  in 
the  State.  The  ore  is  found  in  narrow  seams  which  are 
sometimes  only  a  quarter  of  an  inch  wide,  but  are  almost 
virgin  gold. 

Montana's  largest  nugget,  however,  was  found  by  Ed. 
Rising  at  Snow  Shoe  Gulch,  on  the  Little  Blackfoot 
River.  It  was  worth  $3,356.  It  was  dug  from  12  feet 
below  the  surface  and  about  one  foot  from  bedrock. 

Thus  far  Nevada's  record  for  big  nuggets  is  not  re- 
markable. The  largest  found  in  that  famous  mining 
State  was  taken  from  the  Osceola  placer  mine  about 
twenty  years  ago.  It  weighed  24  pounds  and  was  valued 
at  $4,000.  One  of  the  laborers  stole  it,  but,  repenting  of 
his  crime  two  months  later,  returned  $2,000  in  small  bars 
to  the  owners — all  that  he  had  left  of  the  glittering  chunk. 
A  nugget  worth  $2,190  was  found  on  the  same  property 
about  a  year  ago. 

Arizona,  while  forging  to  the  front  as  a  copper  pro- 
ducer, has  not  been  productive  of  famous  nuggets  up  to 
this  time.  Last  Spring  Papago  Indians  found  one  worth 
$900  in  Horseshoe  Basin,  a  canon  in  the  foothills  of  the 
Quijoroa  Mountains,  fifty  miles  south  of  Tucson.  The 
discovery  made  quite  a  sensation.  Two  hundred  Indians 
went  to  work  in  the  diggings,  which  is  in  their  reserva- 
tion, and  many  finds  of  smaller  nuggets  were  reported. 

On  July  8,  1899,  a  nugget  was  found  on  Spruce 
Creek,  Atlin  Lake  country,  B.  C.,  126  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. It  weighed  84  ounces  and  was  worth  $1,000.  In 

27 


July,  J.  D.  Harrigan  took  out  a  nugget  of  pure  gold  from 
his  claim  on  Pine  Creek;  it  weighed  29  oz.  12  dwt.  17  gr., 
and  was  worth  $600.  A  nugget  valued  at  $61  was  found 
on  Dexter  Creek,  near  Cape  Nome,  this  season. 

On  the  Ortiz  grant,'  in  New  Mexico,  where  Thomas 
A.  Edison  is  trying  his  electrical  process  of  extracting 
gold,  large  nuggets  were  found  by  the  old  Spanish  gold- 
seekers.  Several  years  ago  a  nugget  worth  $1,300  was 
picked  up  after  a  rain-storm.  Occasional  pockets  have 
been  struck  which  have  produced  several  hundred  dollars 
of  gold.  The  compiler  believes  the  Ortiz  grant  to  be  one 
of  the  greatest  deposits  of  gold-bearing  gravel  in  the 
world.  He  lived  on  the  grant  during  the  fall  and  winter 
of  1880,  investigating  its  mineral  wealth. 

The  owners  asked  him  to  visit  France  and  Germany 
to  seek  capital  for  its  development,  which  he  did,  and  in 
response  to  his  efforts  a  distinguished  German  hydraulic 
engineer  and  an  English  mining  expert  were  sent  out  to 
examine  and  report.  Their  findings  showed,  first,  that  at 
least  twenty  millions  of  dollars  could  be  washed  from  the 
20,000  acres  of  gravel;  and  that,  to  bring  the  waters  of 
the  Rio  Grande  River,  distant  nine  miles,  to  the  highest 
point  on  the  property,  an  elevation  of  2,500  feet,  it  would 
cost  two  and  one-half  million  dollars.  This  in  addition 
to  the  cost  of  the  property  meant  a  large  investment,  but 
it  was  agreed  to,  providing  Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps, 
of  Suez  and  Panama  Canal  fame,  would  approve  of  the 
hydraulic  feature.  The  compiler  spent  two  days  at  Count 
de  Lesseps'  home,  in  Paris.  The  Count  approved  of  the 

28 


German  engineer's  plans,  and  but  for  the  litigation  which 
unfortunately  arose  at  that  time  over  the  titles  and  con- 
tinued for  years,  the  Europeans  would  have  developed 
this  great  property.  Now  Edison  is  endeavoring  to  do 
by  electricity  what  the  anticipated  owners  desired  to  do 
by  water.  And  the  compiler  hopes  he  will  succeed,  for 
the  great  value  of  this  property  has  been  proven  by  inter- 
national experts. 

J.  Kilgour  found  a  nugget  weighing  52  oz.  n  dwt. 
6  gr.  on  the  north  branch  of  the  Gilbert  River,  a  tributary 
of  the  Chaudiere  River,  Beance  County,  Province  of 
Quebec,  in  1866.  Another  valued  at  $821.56  was  found 
in  the  same  district  in  1867  by  Arch.  MacDonald. 

The  big  nugget  of  pure  gold  on  exhibition  in  this  city 
is  the  largest  found  in  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  It  came 
from  the  San  Mateo  Mountains  of  Chihuahua,  Mexico, 
and  is  the  property  of  a  Connecticut  company  of  placer 
miners  operating  in  Mexico.  It  weighs  468  ounces  and 
is  intrinsically  worth  about  $8,430.  The  poor  Mexican 
peon,  who  found  this  chunk  of  gold  while  he  was  gather- 
ing medicinal  herbs  on  the  mining  company's  territory, 
was  given  $1,000  for  his  lucky  discovery. 

We  have  been  unable  to  get  any  reliable  information 
with  reference  to  gold  nuggets  found  in  Mexico,  Central 
and  South  America.  Through  the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Ray- 
mond we  have  been  informed  of  one  nugget  found  at  La 
Paz,  Peru,  in  1730,  weighing  60  pounds.  But  there  has 
in  all  probability  been  a  greater  number  of  nuggets  found 
in  South  America  during  the  past  300  years  than  in  any 

39 


other  part  of  the  globe.  The  South  American  countries 
have  been  extremely  rich  in  gold  placer  mining.  From 
the  earliest  records  to  date  they  have  produced  two  and 
one-fifth  billions  of  gold,  being  nearly  one-third  of  the 
world's  supply ;  and  for  the  same  period  their  production 
of  silver  reached  the  enormous  total  of  about  eight  thou- 
sand million  dollars.  The  gold  mined  was  distributed  as 
follows : 

Columbia  has  produced  about $800,000,000  gold. 

Bolivia  "      200,000,000     " 

Brazil  "'    800,000,000     " 

Peru  "      100,000,000     " 

Chile  "      25,000,000     " 

Mexico       **'  "      225,000,000     " 

Other  South  American  countries 50,000,000     " 

Official  data  in  Mexico  shows  that  one  mine  at  Guana- 
juato, the  Vita  Madre,  has  produced  to  date  silver  bullion 
valued  at  over  one  thousand  million  dollars. 

An  American  named  George  Cameron,  of  Cleveland, 
O.,  was  highly  favored  in  the  discovery  of  five  nuggets  at 
Pilgrim's  Rest,  South  Africa,  where  gold  was  first  found 
in  1875.  In  addition  to  several  four-pound  chunks,  Mr. 
Cameron  washed  up  one  that  weighed  over  seven  pounds. 
This  nugget  was  shaped  like  the  human  hand,  fingers  and 
all.  It  was  on  exhibition  at  the  Centennial  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1876.  On  Frazier's  Hill,  in  the  same  camp,  nug- 
gets weighing  from  two  to  three  pounds  were  found. 
Upper  Pilgrim's  Creek  was  also  a  Tom  Tiddler's  ground. 
It  gave  up  nuggets  running  from  four  to  five  pounds,. 

30 


which  were  bought  by  the  National  Bank  of  Natal  for 
$19.50  per  ounce. 

Siberia,  which  now  commands  additional  interest 
owing  to  its  proximity  to  Alaska,  and  from  the  fact  that 
a  large  corporation  is  prospecting  its  shores  for  gold,  must 
not  be  omitted  from  the  general  record.  The  greatest 
nugget  found  in  this  Russian  possession  was  the  "Ural," 
found  in  the  Ural  Mountains,  which  was  worth  $24,000. 
Another  large  nugget,  named  the  "Tzar,"  was  found  in 
the  Tzar  Alexander  mine  district  on  July  22,  1882.  It 
was  valued  at  $11,000.  Another  nugget,  which  yielded 
$30,000,  was  found  by  three  convicts.  The  Czar  freed 
the  convicts,  but  kept  the  gold.  It  is  interesting  in  this 
connection  to  note  that  Russia  ranks  fourth  among  the 
gold-producing  countries  of  the  world.  The  New  York 
Sun,  under  date  of  August  30,  1900,  says  that  a  nugget 
weighing  1,150  ounces  was  found  recently  in  the  Ural 
gold  mines  at  Orsk,  in  the  Government  of  Orenberg. 

Now  that  the  Japanese  Government  has  sanctioned  the 
operation  of  mines  by  foreigners  the  islands  will  soon 
figure  as  gold  producers.  In  Nokkaido,  the  northern- 
most main  island  of  the  empire,  the  total  length  of  the 
river  beds  containing  gold  is  estimated  at  3,500  miles,  and 
the  total  productive  area  at  1,750,000  acres.  Nuggets 
weighing  over  half  a  pound  have  been  found  in  the  dis- 
trict. 

The  gold  mines  of  Sado,  the  most  important  producers 
in  Japan,  are  situated  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  the 
Island  of  Sado,  in  the  Sea  of  Japan,  fifty  miles  north  of 

31 


Niigata.  There  is  no  official  record  of  the  output  of 
the  mines  for  the  whole  time  during  which  they  have 
been  worked,  but  they  are  said  to  have  turned  out  in  276 
years  1,230,348  ounces  of  gold  and  62,078,216  ounces  of 
silver.  From  the  first  year  of  Meiji  to  March,  1889,  a 
period  of  twenty-one  years  and  three  months,  the  total 


Nugget  Found  by  a  Shepherd  Near  the  Village  of  L'Ardeche,  France. 

output  was  51,494  ounces  of  gold  and  1,500,106  ounces  of 
silver.  The  total  production  of  Japan  in  1890  was  23,401 
ounces  of  gold,  and  in  1897,  34,500  ounces;  40,000 
ounces  for  1898,  and  66,000  ounces  for  1899.. 

We  are  indebted  to  Stanislas  Meunier,  a  mining  engi- 
neer of  Paris,  for  information  with  reference  to  a  nugget 

3* 


weighing  between  one  and  two  pounds  (see  illustration) 
found  by  a  shepherd  while  grazing  his  goats  at  a  place 
near  the  village  of  I/Ardeche.  He  picked  up  what  was 
supposed  to  be  a  stone  to  throw  at  wayward  goats.  He 
threw  the  stone,  and  his  brother  finding  it  next  day,  at- 
tracted by  the  color  and  weight,  took  it  to  the  local  jeweler 
for  examination,  who  gave  him  1,200  francs  for  it.  The 
village  priest  relates  that  for  a  period  covering  sixty  years 
nuggets  much  smaller  in  size  have  frequently  been  found 
in  that  locality.  One  weighing  543  grammes  was  dug  up 
by  a  farmer  while  hoeing,  about  thirty  years  ago. 

Often  nuggets  of  peculiar  shape  are  found.  Last  fall 
a  priest  named  Father  Long  found  one  formed  like  a 
sickle  and  weighing  100  pounds  in  West  Australia.  He 
called  it  the  " Sacred  and  Golden  Sickle,"  as  it  had  been 
found  as  the  result  of  a  vision  that  came  to  a  poor  but 
devout  parishioner.  It  was  dug  up  by  the  priest,  guided 
by  the  parishioner,  from  a  depth  of  six  feet,  on  the  Kur- 
nalpa  road,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  nearest  lake. 

L.  W.  Tatum,  of  the  Providencia  Mining  and  Milling 
Company,  Dolores,  Mexico,  bought  from  an  Indian  a 
small  nugget  which  was  a  perfect  corn  husk  in  shape. 
The  jeweler  who  mounted  it  for  a  scarf  pin  said  the 
graver's  art  could  not  improve  it.  The  centre  stem  of 
the  husk  ran  from  butt  to  tip,  gradually  tapering ;  the  side 
or  lateral  veins  were  all  clear  and  perfect,  and  the  entire 
shape  of  the  leaf  appeared.  The  nugget  was  one  and  a 
half  inches  long  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  wide.  It 
was  19  carat  fine  and  a  beautiful  color.  The  whereabouts 

33 


of  this  unique  specimen  is  unknown.  It  was  stolen  from 
Mr.  Tatum's  cravat  several  years  ago  while  he  was  riding 
in  a  smoking  car  between  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  and  Omaha. 

The  Indicator  vein  in  the  Ballarat  group  is  as  remarka- 
ble in  formation  as  it  is  unrivalled  as  a  gold  producer.  It 
has  often  shown  a  matrix  of  wholly  precious  metal,  the 
silica  being  displaced  by  entire  gold,  no  vestige  of  the 
gangue  initial  matter  being  left.  A  pendant  of  pure  gold 
in  egg-sized  lumps,  united  by  a  thin,  wirelike  chain  of 
about  four  feet  long,  and  of  the  value  of  $7,500,  was  taken 
thirty  years  ago  from  a  depth  of  250  feet  on  the  Indi- 
cator lode.  What  are  called  "bunches"  of  gold  are  fre- 
quent, and  it  is  difficult  to  tell  where  they  take  their 
departure. 


34 


III. 

No  part  of  the  world  has  been  so  prolific  in  the  yield  of 
nuggets  as  Victoria.  Of  many  discovered  in  the  early 
days  no  record  has  been  preserved,  but  prior  to  1869  a 
list  of  finds  was  compiled  by  William  Birkmyre,  an 
Australian  assayer  of  high  standing.  Among  the  most 
valuable  finds  recorded  is  that  of  the  "Welcome  Stranger," 
which  occurred  about  a  mile  west  of  the  village  of  Molia- 
gul  in  the  neighborhood  of  Duriolly  on  February  15,  1869. 
This  world-famed  nugget  was  found  by  two  puddlers, 
John  Deason  and  Richard  Gates,  on  the  extreme  margin 
of  a  patch  of  auriferous  alluvium,  within  two  feet  of  the 
bed  rock  (sandstone),  in  a  loose,  gravelly  loam.  It  rested 
on  stiff  red  clay  and  was  barely  covered  with  earth;  in 
fact,  it  was  in  the  rut  made  by  the  puddlers'  cart  that  the 
treasure  was  noticed.  It  measured  about  21  inches  in 
length  and  10  inches  in  thickness,  and  though  mixed  with 
quartz,  the  great  body  of  the  "Welcome  Stranger"  was 
in  solid  gold. 

The  lucky  finders  conveyed  it  to  their  hut  and  heated 
it  in  the  fire,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  adherent  quartz, 
and  thus  reduce  its  weight  before  taking  it  to  the  bank  at 
Dunolly.  They  also  detached  and  gave  to  their  friends  a 
number  of  specimens  and  pieces  of  gold  before  the  nugget 
got  into  the  hands  of  the  bank  manager.  The  melted 

35 


gold  weighed  2268  oz.  10  dwt.  14  gr.  and  contained  only 
i -75th  of  alloy,  which  was  composed  chiefly  of  silver  and 
iron,  so  that  98.66  per  cent,  of  the  nugget  was  pure  gold. 
Including  the  pieces  given  away  to  their  friends  by  the 
finders  the  nugget  yielded  2280  oz.,  equivalent  to  2248  oz. 
of  pure  gold,  its  value  at  the  Bank  of  England  being  $47,- 
670.  The  neighborhood  of  Dunolly  was  at  that  time 
almost  unprospected  country.  Very  heavy  gold  was 
characteristic  of  the  locality,  many  large  nuggets  being 
found  there;  and,  near  the  spot  where  the  "Welcome 
Stranger"  was  discovered,  two  nuggets  of  1 14  oz.  and  36 
oz.,  respectively,  were  unearthed  soon  afterwards. 

The  Welcome  nugget,  found  by  a  party  of  24  at 
Bakery  Hill,  Ballarat,  on  June  I5th,  1858,  was  sold  by  the 
discoverers  in  Ballarat  for  $52,500,  and,  after  being  ex- 
hibited for  a  season  in  Melbourne,  was  again  disposed  of 
for  $46,625.  It  then  weighed  2159  oz.,  so  that  the  price 
obtained  was  $21  per  ounce.  This  nugget  was  found  at  a 
depth  of  1 80  feet.  It  was  apparently  waterworn,  con- 
tained about  10  Ib.  of  quartz,  clay,  and  oxide  of  iron,  and 
measured  20  inches  in  length,  12  inches  in  breadth,  and  7 
inches  in  depth.  The  Welcome  was  melted  in  Lon- 
don in  November,  1859,  and  contained  99.20  per  cent,  of 
pure  gold.  Two  other  large  nuggets,  one  weighing  480 
<oz.  and  the  other  571  oz.,  were  unearthed  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  three  years  before. 

The  Blanche  Barkley  nugget  (1743  oz.  13  dwt.),  of 
the  value  of  $34,525,  was  found  by  a  party  of  four  at  Kin- 
gower,  at  a  depth  of  13  feet,  and  within  5  feet  or  6  feet  of 

36 


holes  that  were  dug  three  years  before.  Previous  to  its 
being  melted  the  nugget  was  exhibited  in  Melbourne  and 
at  the  Crystal  Palace,  London,  where  it  was  an  object  of 
great  interest  owing  to  its  bulk,  brightness,  and  solidity; 
and  for  some  time  the  fortunate  owners  netted  an  average 
of  $250  per  week.  On  assay  it  yielded  95.58  per  cent,  of 
pure  gold. 

Another  party  of  four  found  in  the  Canadian  Gully, 
Ballarat,  at  a  depth  of  60  feet,  a  nugget  weighing  1619 
oz.,  just  after  unearthing  a  nugget  of  76  oz.  Two  of  the 
party  had  been  in  the  colony  not  more  than  3  months, 
when  they  returned  to  England  with  their  prize,  which 
yielded  them  $27,660.  Near  the  same  gully,  on  Septem- 
ber 8th,  1854,  a  nugget  of  gold  weighing  1177  oz,  17  dwt. 
was  found,  and  from  the  same  hole  upwards  of  220  Ib.  of 
smaller  nuggets  were  obtained,  so  that  the  value  of  gold 
taken  from  this  claim  was  not  less  than  $65,000.  A 
nugget  only  8  dwt.  lighter  than  the  last-named  (which  was 
known  as  the  Lady  Hotham)  was  discovered  in  Canadian 
Gully,  Ballarat,  at  a  depth  of  60  feet,  amongst  quartz 
boulders  and  washdirt  going  an  ounce  to  the  ton.  At  the 
first  blow  of  the  pick  the  miner  suspected  he  had  struck 
gold ;  at  the  second  stroke  the  pick  stuck  in  the  nugget. 
Two  days  afterwards,  in  the  same  claim  and  drive,  and 
within  10  feet  of  the  spot  where  the  1619  oz.  nugget  was 
unearthed,  a  nugget  weighing  ion  oz.  15  dwt.  was  dis- 
covered. It  was  somewhat  of  the  shape  of  a  pyramid,  a 
very  fine  specimen  with  snowy  white  quartz  attached. 
The  two  working  diggers  continued  operations  a  fort- 

37 


night  longer  for  a  yield  of  100  oz.  of  small  gold,  and  then 
sold  their  claim  for  eighty  guineas  ! 

The  Heron  nugget,  found  by  two  young  men  near  Old 
Golden  Point,  Fryer's  Creek,  Mount  Alexander-,  was  a 
solid  lump  of  gold,  which  drew  the  scale  at  1008  oz.  and 
realized  $20,400.  The  lucky  finders  had  been  only  three 
months  in  the  colony.  Nuggets  of  7  Ib.  and  22  Ib.  re- 
spectively were  obtained  in  the  same  locality  some  three 
years  before. 

At  Kingower,  where  the  Blanche  Barkley  was  brought 
to  light,  two  men  came  upon  a  nugget  of  805  oz.  within  a 
foot  of  the  surface,  and  the  following  year  another  nugget, 
weighing  782  oz.,  was  found  in  the  same  locality.  A 
party  of  three  divided  $15,000  as  the  proceeds  of  working 
a  claim  at  Back  Creek,  Taradale,  to  a  depth  of  12  feet, 
their  yield  including  a  nugget  of  648  oz.  and  a  number  of 
small  nuggets  weighing  80  oz.  In  an  abandoned  hole  at 
Eureka,  Ballarat,  a  625  oz.  nugget  was  found  in  1854,  and 
at  Mclvor,  in  1855  and  1858,  two  nuggets,  weighing  645 
oz.  and  658  oz.  respectively,  were  unearthed  in  shallow 
workings.  A  600  oz.  nugget,  of  the  value  of  $10,900, 
was  found  at  Yandoit,  Castlemain,  in  April,  1860;  and, 
within  six  weeks,  five  more  nuggets  were  discovered  in 
the  same  locality.  At  laskman's  Lead,  Maryborough,  in 
June,  1855,  a  nugget  weighing  1034  oz.  5  dwt,  and  sold 
for  $16,250,  was  found  at  a  depth  of  only  5  feet  from  the 
surface.  In  an  old  pillar  of  earth  in  a  deserted  claim  at 
Robinson  Crusoe  Gully,  Sandhurst,  a  nugget  drawing  the 
scale  at  377  oz.  6  dwt.  was  discovered. 

38 


The  Victorian  nugget,  found  in  the  White  Horse 
Gully,  Sandhust,  in  1852,  weighed  340  oz.,  and  was 
bought  by  Parliament,  at  a  cost  of  $8,250,  for  presentation 
to  the  Queen.  Close  to  the  same  spot,  lying  amongst 
gravel  about  a  foot  from  the  surface,  the  Dascombe  nug- 
get was  found  in  January,  1852.  It  weighed  332  oz.,  and 
was  sold  in  London  for  $7,500.  At  Mount  Blackwood, 
in  1855,  a  nugget  of  240  oz.  1 8  dwt.  was  found  lying  on 
the  surface  of  the  ground;  and  in  May,  1860,  a  moss- 
covered  nugget,  weighing  230  oz.,  was  picked  up  by  a 
prospecting  party  at  Kingower,  where,  eight  months  later, 
another  nugget  of  236  oz.  was  discovered  within  half  an 
inch  of  the  surface.  At  the  same  place,  in  September, 
1858,  a  boy  ding  up  a  nugget  weighing  120  oz.  from  a 
depth  of  a  few  inches.  At  Ballarat,  in  August,  1860,  at 
a  depth  of  400  feet,  a  solid  lump  of  gold  weighing  834  oz. 
was  unearthed,  and  with  it  100  oz.  of  smaller  gold. 

In  March,  1869,  a  nugget  weighing  893  oz.  was  found 
at  Berlin,  where  in  May  and  October  of  the  same  year  the 
Viscount  and  Viscountess  Canterbury,  weighing  1105  oz. 
and  884  oz.  respectively,  were  discovered  near  the  surface. 
During  the  year  1870  several  large  nuggets  were  found, 
the  principal  of  which  were — one  on  May  3ist,  at  Berlin, 
weighing  1121  oz.,  another  at  the  same  place  on  October 
3d,  weighing  896  oz.,  and  a  third  on  November  nth,  at 
Mclntyre  diggings,  only  a  few  inches  from  the  surface, 
weighing  452  oz.  During  the  year  1871,  also,  large  nug- 
gets were  found  at  Berlin.  Amongst  the  largest  were 
the  Precious,  found  on  January  5th,  weight  1621  oz. ;  the 

39 


Kum  Tow,  April  ifth,  718  oz. ;  and  the  Needful,  May 
loth,  247  oz.  These  three  nuggets  were  discovered  at  a 
depth  of  about  12  feet  from  the  surface.  A  large  number 
of  nuggets  have  been  found  on  other  goldfields,  varying  in 
weight  from  20  oz.  to  200  oz. 

In  the  year  1872  the  undermentioned  large  nuggets 
were  discovered :  On  April  2d  the  Crescent  was  found  at 


Nugget  Found  at  Reed  Mine,  Cabarrus  Co.,  N.  C.,  Near  Southern  Railwa- 
April  10th,  1896.    Weight  22  Pounds.    Picture  One-Eighth  Actual  Size. 

Berlin,  at  a  depth  of  2  feet;  it  weighed  14  Ib.  n  oz.  On 
May  8th  a  nugget  weighing  477  oz.  was  got  in  the  same 
locality,  at  a  depth  of  9  feet.  At  Dunolly  the  Schlemm 
nugget  was  found,  weighing  478  oz.,  at  a  depth  of  3  feet 
from  the  surface.  The  Spondulix  nugget,  found  in  a 
quartz  reef  at  the  same  place,  at  a  depth  of  8  feet  from  the 
surface,  weighed  130  oz.  Among  other  big  nuggets 
since  discovered  are  the  Baron  Rothschild,  90  oz.,  at  Cres- 

40 


wick,  in  1884;  the  Lady  Loch,  617  oz.,  in  the  Midas  mine, 
Creswick,  in  September,  1887 ;  the  Lady  Brassey,  from  the 
same  claim ;  and  in  1889,  a  461  oz.  nugget,  found  at  Iron- 
bark,  in  a  small  pillar  of  ground  between  two  old  holes ; 
one  54  oz.  at  Bokewood ;  and  another  48  oz.  at  Pinchgut 
Gully,  Ballarat.  Within  the  fortnight  ending  May  7th, 
1898,  three  nuggets  were  found,  one  weighing  127  oz.,  at 
Blue  Gully,  foot  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  in  the  Trentham 
district;  one  weighing  142  oz.  at  Blackwood;  and  one 
weighing  138  oz.  at  the  Break  o'Day  claim,  Rokewood. 
These  finds,  which  bring  the  record  down  to  date,  go  to 
prove  that  despite  the  finds  of  former  years  the  golden 
store  is  still  unexhausted. 

Other  important  finds  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 
At  the  Twisted  Gum-tree  (date  not  given),  a  nugget 
weighing  408  oz. ;  in  Canadian  Gully,  Ballarat,  in  1853,  a 
nugget  of  371  oz.  2  dwt,  containing  a  good  deal  of 
quartz ;  sold  in  Melbourne  in  March  of  the  same  year  for 
$7,327.  In  the  same  gully,  February,  1853,  two  nuggets, 
368  oz.  and  143  oz.  15  dwt.  respectively;  at  Mclvor,  1857, 
a  328  oz.  nugget,  with  smaller  ones  weighing  35^  oz. ;  at 
McCallum's  Creek  (no  date  named),  326  oz.  10  dwt.;  at 
Mclntyre  diggings,  near  Kingower,  March,  1857,  810  oz. 
At  Kingower,  February,  1861,  782  oz. ;  at  Daisy  Hill, 
October,  1855,  only  3^  feet  from  the  surface,  715  oz. ;  at 
White  Horse  Gully,  Sandhust,  October,  1852,  in  the  same 
hole  as  the  nugget  presented  to  the  Queen,  one  weighing 
573  oz.,  and  valued  at  $10,500;  near  Native  Youth,  Balla- 
rat, at  a  depth  of  9  feet,  the  Nil  Desperandum,  November, 

4.1 


1857*  54°  °z- ;  at  Blackman's  Lead,  Maryborough,  Janu- 
ary, 1858,  6  feet  below  the  surface,  537  oz..  5  dwt. ;  at  Yan- 
doit,  Castlemaine,  October,  1860,  at  a  depth  of  16  feet, 
384  oz. ;    at  Sandhust,  in  1854,  338  oz.  18  dwt. ;    at  the 
Mclntyre  diggings,  September,  1858,  6  feet  below  the  sur- 
face, 300  oz. ;  at  Kingower,  in  1854,  282  oz.  2  dwt. ;  in 
April,  1861,  281^  oz. ;    and  in  August,  1861,  in  shallow 
sinking,  300  oz. ;  at  Sandhurst,  in  1852,  288  oz. ;  at  Jones's 
Creek,  1856,  281  oz. ;  at  Daisy  Hill,  the  same  year,  275  oz. 
3  dwt.  18  gr. ;  at  Golden  Point,  Fryer's  Creek,  (no  date 
given),  264  oz. ;  at  Brown's  diggings,  October  23,  1856, 
263  oz.  8  dwt. ;  at  Kingower,  May,  1856,  within  four  feet 
of  the  surface,  260  oz. ;  at  Mount  Korong,  May,  1856,  at 
a  depth  of  18  inches,  235  oz.  13  dwt.  valued  at  $5,000;  at 
Yandoit,  1860,  within  20  feet  of  the  surface,  240  oz. ;  at 
White  Hills,  Maryborough,  1856,  at  a  depth  of  12  feet, 
236  oz. ;    at  Mount  Korong,  August,  1854,  192  oz. ;     at 
Bryant's  Ranges,  12  miles  from  Castlemaine,  in  1854,  183 
oz.  8  dwt.  12  gr. ;  at  Tarrangower,  May,  1855,  180  oz. ;  at 
Maryborough,   1854,  178  oz.  16  dwt. ;    at  Evans'  Gully, 
1861,  153^  oz. ;  at  Jones  Creek,  Mount  Moliagul,  1855, 
one  of  145  oz.  5  dwt.  and  another  140  oz. ;  at  Creswick 
Creek,   May,   1860,   144  oz. ;     at  Jim  Crow,   September, 
1858,  136  oz. ;  at  Mount  Korong,  4^  feet  from  the  surface, 
132  oz.  9  dwt. ;  at  Dunolly,  1854,  no  oz.  9  dwt. ;  at  King- 
ower, September,  1861,  106  oz.  16  dwt.  and  looj  oz. ;  at 
Mount  Moliagul,  November,  1857,  104  oz.  8  dwt.,  valued 
at  $2,000. 

The  largest  gold  nugget  of  which  the  world  has  any 
42 


knowledge  was  found  at  Hill  End,  New  South  Wales,  by 
Messrs.  Byer  and  Haltman.  It  measured  4  feet  9  inches 
in  length,  3  feet  3  inches  in  width,  and  averaged  4  inches 
in  thickness.  It  sold  for  $148,000.  At  the  time  of  find- 
ing it  Messrs.  Byer  and  Haltman  had  exhausted  their 
capital  and  were  practically  living  on  charity.  It  is  said 
that  the  discovery  so  unnerved  one  of  the  partners  that  he 
was  unfit  for  work  or  business  for  a  long  period. 


43 


IV. 

With  the  discovery  of  some  famous  nuggets  are  as- 
sociated stones  tinged  with  romance,  pathos  and  cupid- 
ity. In  1852  a  chunk  of  gold  weighing  45  pounds  and 
worth  $8,000  was  found  near  Sonora,  Tuolumne  county, 
California.  The  finder  had  a  friend,  relates  S.  M.  Fraz- 
ier  in  Mining  Reporter  of  Denver,  who  was  far  gone  in 
consumption,  but  who  was  trying  to  work  in  the  mines. 
The  owner  of  the  nugget  saw  that  the  man  was  fast  kill- 
ing himself.  At  that  time  such  a  mass  of  gold  was  a  cu- 
riosity which  people  would  flock  to  see,  and  he  arranged 
with  his  sick  friend,  who  was  well  educated,  to  take  the 
nugget  to  the  States  for  exhibition  purposes.  Besides 
the  mass  of  solid  gold,  he  took  some  fine  dust,  chispas, 
gold-bearing  quartz,  black  sand,  gravel  and  auriferous 
clirt  from  the  placer,  and  delivered  lectures  on  mining 
operations  in  California.  The  agreement  between  them 
was  that  whenever  the  owner  wanted  the  nugget  or  its 
value  he  was  to  let  his  friend  know  of  his  need. 

For  a  time  the  miner  heard  from  his  friend  regularly, 
then  all  at  once  lost  track  of  him.  He  began  after 
months  to  think  his  nugget  lost — that  his  friend  had  been 
murdered  and  robbed  in  some  out-of-the-way  place.  One 
day,  however,  a  letter  reached  the  miner  from  a  banker 
in  New  Orleans,  telling  him  that  his  friend  had  died  in 

44 


that  city,  but  had  left  the  big  nugget  at  the  bank  subject 
to  his  order.  The  miner  wrote  to  have  the  nugget 
melted  down,  and  in  due  time  he  received  a  check  for  a 
little  over  $8,000. 

A  story  of  a  different  kind  is  told  by  the  same  writer. 
In  a  drift  mine  at  Remington  Hill,  Nevada  county,  in 
1856,  the  half  of  a  smoothly  washed  bowlder  of  gold 
quartz  was  found  which  yielded  $4,672.50.  The  nugget 
was  smooth  on  all  the  rounded  sides,  but  had  on  one 
side  a  flat,  rough  face.  At  the  time  the  chunk  was  found 
it  was  remarked  that  the  other  half  of  the  bowlder  might 
possibly  be  somewhere  in  the  same  claim.  In  1858,  two 
years  after  the  first  find,  the.  owners  of  the  mine  had  a 
hired  man  who  was  engaged  in  drifting  out  pay  dirt. 
One  day  this  man  unexpectedly  announced  that  he  was 
going  to  leave — that  he  was  going  down  to  Nevada  City 
to  try  his  luck  for  a  time. 

The  man  was  paid  his  wages  and,  shouldering  his 
blankets,  he  took  his  departure.  After  he  had  been 
gone  a  short  time  one  of  the  partners  said:  "It  is  strange 
that  the  fellow  should  all  at  once  quit  work  here,  where 
he  had  a  steady  job  at  as  good  wages  as  he  can  find 
anywhere  in  the  country.  I  wonder  if  he  has  not  found 
the  other  half  of  that  bowlder?" 

"Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 

"I  am  going  to  mount  a  horse  and  follow  him.  I  am 
confident  that  I  shall  find  that  chunk  of  gold  in  his  pos- 
session, and  I  will  make  him  surrender  it  with  verv  little 


45 


"So!  All  right;  you  may  have  my  half  of  all  you  real- 
ize from  the  venture.  But  remember,  if  you  fail,  you 
will  place  yourself  in  a  very  unenviable  light  in  the  eyes 
of  an  honorable  man  by  reason  of  an  unjust  suspicion.  I 
imagine  I  see  you  coming  back  tired,  crestfallen  and  the 
barometer  of  self-respect  fallen  several  points." 

Mounting  his  horse,  the  man  who  had  "suspicions" 
took  the  road  to  Nevada  City  with  a  six-shooter  in  his 
belt. 

When  he  overtook  his  man  and  asked  him  to  throw 
down  and  open  out  his  roll  of  blankets,  the  fellow  was  at 
first  quite  indignant  and  inclined  to  be  ugly,  but  when  he 
saw  a  revolver  pointed  at  his  head  he  cried  out: 

"I  cave.  Now,  how  in  creation  did  you  find  out  that 
I'd  got  hold  of  the  other  half  of  that  nugget?" 

"Guessed  it,"  said  the  mine  owner.     "Shell  her  out.'* 

Down  went  the  blanket  and  out  came  a  big  golden 
nugget.  Sure  enough,  it  was  the  other  half  of  the 
bowlder.  Taking  the  chunk,  the  owner  told  the  man  to 
"git;"  that  as  he  had  met  with  a  great  temptation  he  was 
forgiven.  The  half  thus  received  produced  $4,430. 75, 
making  a  total  for  the  whole  bowlder  of  $9,103.25. 

The  unsuspicious  partner  was  very  sick  when  he  saw 
the  missing  half  of  the  bowlder  brought  back.  How- 
ever, the  other,  after  paying  himself  $1,000  for  his 
trouble  and  his  ability  as  a  detective,  divided  the  remain- 
der with  the  man  who  had  laughed  at  him  in  the  start. 
He  said  he  took  only  $20  for  his  trouble  and  risk,  but 
that  for  his  "sabe"  he  must  have  $980. 

46 


There  is  an  exciting  story  connected  with  the  finding 
of  the  Oliver  Martin  nugget,  the  largest  ever  found  in 
California,  which  sold  for  $22,700,  after  it  had  earned 
$10,000  from  exhibition  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
Although  a  young  man,  Oliver  Martin  was  little  better 
than  a  tramp.  He  spent  his  time  in  doing  odd  jobs  and 
drinking  whiskey  around  the  mining  camps  of  Yuba> 
Tuolumne,  El  Dorado  and  Calaveras  counties.  He  didn't 
even  own  a  pan,  much  less  a  rocker  or  long  torn.  One  of 
his  boon  companions  was  John  Fowler,  who  was  equally 
shiftless  and  dissipated. 

One  night  in  November,  1854,  the  two  were  on  their 
way  from  Benton's  bar  over  the  Grizzly  Mountains  to 
Camp  Corona,  the  spot  made  famous  in  literature  by 
Bret  Harte.  The  fall  rains  had  begun,  and  the  streams 
were  running  high.  On  the  night  of  the  I7th,  almost 
stupid  with  drink,  the  two  sought  refuge  in  a  deserted 
miner's  hut.  During  the  night  a  heavy  rain,  peculiar  to 
the  mountain  ranges,  set  in.  The  water  fell  in  torrents, 
and  came  pouring  down  the  precipitous  mountain  sides. 
The  narrow  canon  where  Martin  and  Fowler  lay  asleep 
and  drunk  was  soon  filled  with  the  rushing  waters,  which 
threatened  to  sweep  away  the  old  shack  of  a  building. 
They  were  awakened  by  the  water  pouring  into  the 
cabin,  and  sought  to  escape  by  climbing  the  steep  sides 
of  the  canon.  Both  men  were  swept  back  into  the  flood 
and  were  carried  down  the  stream  in  the  darkness.  Mar- 
tin was  washed  into  a  clump  of  live  oaks,  and  managed  to 

47 


lodge,  clinging  to  the  branches  until  morning,  but  Fow- 
ler was  drowned. 

Next  day,  November  i8th.  toward  noon,  wlun  the 
waters  had  subsided,  Martin  secured  a  pick  and  shovel, 
and  started  to  bury  his  dead  companion.  He  selected  a 
sandy  spot  at  the  base  of  the  cliff,  and  had  not  dug  down 
two  feet  when  he  came  upon  the  nugget.  He  made  several 
tests  before  he  could  convince  himself  that  it  was  really 
gold.  The  chunk  was  bigger  than  a  bull's  head,  and  too 
heavy  for  Martin  to  carry.  He  hurried  to  Camp  Corona 
to  secure  help.  He  had  some  difficulty  in  persuading 
anyone  to  go  with  him.  At  last  a  miner  consented,  but 
carefully  made  the  statement  that  he  was  going  to  help 
bury  J'owier,  and  not  to  carry  nuggets,  as  he,  like  others 
in  the  camp,  placed  no  confidence  in  Martin's  story.  The 
chunk  weighed  eighty  pounds  and  required  the  combined 
efforts  of  Oliver  and  his  assistant  to  get  it  to  the  camp. 

Before  starting  both  men  staked  claims,  Martin,  of 
course,  claiming  his  where  he  had  unearthed  the  big  nug- 
get. As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  great  find  spread,  min- 
ers flocked  in  by  hundreds,  but  although  the  stream  was 
carefully  prospected  for  miles,  nothing  of  any  great  value 
was  found.  Martin  considered  that  his  find  and  the 
peculiar  circumstances  attending  it  was  an  act  of  Provi- 
dence, and  he  never  touched  intoxicants  thereafter.  With 
the  money  he  got  from  the  sale  of  his  nugget  he  went  to 
mining  in  a  business-like  manner.  Later  he '  was  at- 
tracted to  Yucatan,  where  he  made  over  half  a  million  in 


quartz  mining.       He  died  in  New  Orleans  a  few  years 
ago,  leaving  a  fortune  of  over  a  million  dollars. 

To  a  poor  half-breed  Indian  belongs  the  credit  of  the 
second  largest  find  in  California.  The  scene  of  this  dis- 
covery was  a  spot  that  had  been  gone  over  time  and 
again  by  experienced  prospectors  and  miners.  In  1861 
a  firm  of  young  men  from  St.  Louis  had  been  induced  to 
invest  in  a  big  placer  claim  in  Nevada  county.  Old  min- 
ers laughed  in  their  sleeves  when  they  heard  of  the  deal. 
The  claim  had  never  yielded  more  than  "colors"  and 
"promises,"  and  they  regarded  it  as  a  moribund  proposi- 
tion. 

But  the  new  firm  took  hold  with  all  the  energy  of 
young  blood  and  abiding  faith  in  their  judgment  and 
fortune.  Sluices  were  built  and  the  hunt  for  gold  institut- 
ed with  great  vigor.  Among  the  employes  was  the  young 
half-breed  Indian.  One  evening  when  the  men  had 
gone  to  their  tents  for  supper,  he  went  down  to  the 
creek  to  wash  his  overalls.  The  sluice  and  creek  were 
so  dirty  that  he  could  not  see  clearly  beneath  the  surface. 
After  spreading  his  overalls  on  the  sluice  boards  to  dry, 
the  Indian's  eyes  were  attracted  by  a  big  yellow  rock  in 
the  muddy  stream.  He  got  down  into  the  water  and 
rolled  the  rock  over  several  times.  He  had  never  seen 
gold  in  any  other  form  than  tiny  flakes  or  bits  the  size 
of  pin  heads,  and  it  never  occurred  to  him  that  gold 
could  be  found  in  any  such  mass  as  that  he  was  rolling 
in  the  stream.  He  concluded  that  he  had  discovered 

49 


some  new  kind  of  rock  and  went  to  his  tent  to  sleep  in 
peace, 

Next  morning  when  he  returned  for  his  overalls  he 
examined  the  curious  rock  again.  There  was  something 
about  it  he  could  neither  understand  nor  define,  and  he 
called  the  foreman  to  inspect  it.  The  trained  eye  of  the 
experienced  miner  at  once  recognized  the  precious  nug- 
get, and  the  camp  went  crazy  over  the  find.  As  the  story 
spread,  hundreds  came  long  distances  just  to  feast  their 
eyes  on  the  lump  of  gold  and  to  poise  it  in  their  hands. 
It  weighed  65  pounds  and  filled  a  peck  measure.  The 
firm  sold  the  nugget  to  the  Adams  Express  Company  for 
$17,400,  and  presented  each  of  their  employes  in  the 
camp  $100,  giving  the  half-breed  $300  extra  for  his  luck 
in  making  the  find.  The  claim  was  afterwards  worked 
over  carefully,  but  while  it  yielded  a  moderate  amount  of 
dust,  no  other  nugget  larger  than  a  pea  was  found,  which 
is  another  proof  of  the  miner's  axiom  that  "gold  is  where 
you  find  it." 

Nuggets  have  sometimes  been  found  in  out-of-the- 
way  places  where  there  is  not  another  particle  of  gold 
within  miles.  Only  a  few  years  ago  a  consumptive  who 
had  sought  refuge  in  the  mountains  back  of  San  Diego, 
found  a  nugget  that  was  as  much  a  surprise  to  himself 
as  to  the  prospectors  of  that  section.  In  one  of  his  long 
walks  for  health  and  exercise  he  amused  himself  by  look- 
ing for  Indian  relics  in  a  canon  after  a  long,  reavy  rain- 
fall had  washed  down  great  masses  of  gravel  and  earth 
into  the  canon.  In  picking  his  way  alongside  the  cliff, 

50 


he  stumbled  over  the  nugget.  He  took  it  to  San  Diego 
and  received  $1,580  for  it,  which  was  about  five  times 
what  he  thought  it  was  worth.  Old  prospectors  went 
over  the  ground  where  the  nugget  was  found  and  all  over 
the  neighborhood,  but  no  one  found  as  much  as  a  color. 

A  similar  find  was  that  made  by  a  miner  known  to 
all  old-timers  as  Dan  Hill.  Hill  was  equally  famed  as  a 
finder  of  nuggets  and  as  a  drinker  of  whiskey;  in  fact,  it 
is  a  question  which  gave  him  the  wider  reputation.  One 
day  he  and  some  companions  were  camped  in  a  lonely 
canon  near  Dutch  Flats,  in  Nevada  county.  Hill  amused 
himself  by  running  over  gravel  on  an  abandoned  placer 
claim.  Tiring  of  this  he  went  down  to  the  brook  to 
wash  his  hands.  There  in  the  running  water,  staring 
him  full  in  the  face,  lay  a  nugget  of  gold  and  white  quartz 
as  big  as  his  head.  How  it  had  lain  there  so  exposed  to 
the  possible  view  of  hundreds  of  miners  who  had  tramped 
over  that  country  and  hunted  the  stream  from  end  to 
end,  time  and  time  again,  was  the  favorite  topic  of  specu- 
lation among  miners  for  months  after. 

Hill  sold  his  nugget  for  $12,300,  and  went  on  a  spree 
that  lasted  into  the  second  year.  He  had  made  a  name 
for  himself  as  a  big  nugget  finder  some  four  years  previ- 
ously; he  was  eking  out  a  bare  existence  in  the  placers 
near  Ruby  Belle  Camp,  in  Plumas  county,  and  almost 
within  the  shadow  of  Mount  Shasta,  when  one  day  he 
dug  out  of  the  gravel  a  chunk  of  gold.  Hill  started  at 
once  for  the  nearest  point  where  he  could  turn  it  into 
cash,  and  the  D.  O.  Mills  Bank  in  Sacramento  handed 


him  $9,000  for  it.  Of  this  he  spent  $5,000  in  San  Fran- 
cisco in  one  week,  and  was  soon  as  poor  as  ever,  and 
again  on  the  hunt  for  nuggets.  But  his  luck  had  de- 
parted. He  never  made  another  find,  and  died  in  the 
almshouse  at  Los  Angeles  several  years  later. 

Colored  miners  were  proverbially  lucky  in  the  early 
days  of  placer  mining  in  California.  In  1868  one  of 
them  was  out  on  a  prospecting  tour  on  the  slope  of 
Table  Mountain,  Tuolumne  county.  Just  where  the 
mountain  drifts  down  towards  Shaw's  Flat,  he  saw  the 
corner  of  a  big  nugget  sticking  out  of  the  ground.  He 
dug  it  out,  planted  it  in  a  new  place  and  marked  the 
spot,  and  continued  on  his  prospecting  expedition.  He 
did  not  stake  out  a  claim  where  he  found  the  nugget,  as 
he  believed  it  to  have  rolled  down  from  some  point 
higher  up  the  mountain. 

Finding  good  pay  at  the  place  he  went  to  prospect  he 
remained  several  weeks,  feeling  quite  at  ease  in  regard  to 
the  big  nugget  he  had  cached. 

Finally  he  quit  work  in  his  new  diggings  and  set 
out  to  relocate  the  place  where  he  had  hidden  his  big 
nugget.  On  coming  in  sight  of  the  spot  where  he  had 
buried  it  he  almost  dropped  in  his  tracks,  for  he  saw  a 
company  of  men  at  work  just  where  he  had  made  his 
"plant."  The  men  were  Italians,  and  they  had  worked 
up  to  within  ten  feet  of  the  spot  where  lay  buried  the 
big  nugget.  The  colored  miner  explained  the  situation 
to  the  Italians,  and  they  permitted  him  to  dig  up  and 
carry  away  his  nugget.  If  there  is  such  a  thing  as 

52 


double  luck,  this  colored  miner  was  endowed  with  it,  for 
the  rescue  was  about  as  fortunate  as  the  find.  The  nug- 
get weighed  35  pounds  and  yielded  over  $7,000. 

TWTO  years  ago  a  man  was  literally  "kicked"  into  a 
fortune.  Louis  Roderigo  was  discharged  by  the  super- 
intendent of  the  Mistle  Shaft  Mine.  Every  day  for 
weeks  he  hung  around  the  mine  imploring  to  be  taken 
back.  Finally  he  was  kicked  off  the  grounds.  He  pro- 
cured a  pick  and  shovel  and  grub  enough  to  last  him 
for  a  week  or  two,  and  started  off  prospecting  in  Bear 
Creek  on  the  Pine  Ridge,  some  75  miles  northeast  of 
Fresno.  Three  weeks  later  he  returned  with  $9,000  in 
gold  dust,  which  was  panned  out  in  less  than  a  fortnight's 
actual  work. 

Among  the  mining  exhibits  in  the  mining  department 
at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  was  a  nugget  of  pure 
gold,  found  in  Alpine  county  by  a  young  woman.  The 
history  of  the  discovery  of  this  chunk  is  cherished  by 
every  woman  in  the  gold  mining  regions  in  California. 
Harry  E.  Ellis  and  his  wife  went  to  the  State  in  1874 
from  Philadelphia  because  of  Ellis'  serious  lung  trouble. 
They  went  to  live  up  in  the  mountains  of  Alpine  county, 
miles  from  any  neighbor.  They  got  their  livelihood  by 
hunting  and  cultivating  a  few  acres  of  land  about  their 
lonely  cabin.  Grizzled  old  gold  miners  with  their  jack- 
asses laden  with  grimy  camp  outfits  and  blankets,  came 
by  the  Ellis  cabin  frequently.  One  of  the  men  lay  ill 
there  for  several  weeks,  while  he  was  nursed  to  health 
and  vigor  by  the  Ellises.  The  miner  told  them  how  they 

53 


might  find  recreation  and  profit  in  hunting  through  the 
canyons  and  foothills  in  that  region  for  "pay  dirt/'  and 
showed  them  where  he  believed  there  were  indications 
of  gold-bearing  gravel. 

For*  days  at  a  time  the  young  husband  and  wife 
tramped  up  and  down  the  gulches  in  Alpine  county,  look- 
ing for  specks  of  gold,  but  all  without  avail.  They 
abandoned  seeking  riches  in  the  placers,  and  confined 
their  attention  to  their  little  ranch.  One  afternoon  as 
Mrs.  Ellis  was  driving  home  the  family  cow  she  was 
seeking  stones  to  throw  for  the  amusement  of  the  dog. 
She  saw  in  the  coarse  gravel  a  dark,  dull  yellow  stone 
and  picked  it  up. 

"I  knew  from  the  moment  I  picked  it  up,"  says  she, 
"that  I  had  found  gold,  because  it  was  so  heavy,  but  as 
I  had  never  seen  a  real  nugget  I  was  afraid  my  husband 
would  laugh  at  me." 

The  nugget  has  never  been  utilized  in  gold  working 
and  is  still  kept  for  exhibition  purposes.  It  is  phenom- 
enally clear  and  the  size  of  a  croquet  ball,  but  very  rough 
and  battered  by  rolling  and  tumbling  in  water  for  ages. 
Mrs.  Ellis  got  $2,250  for  this  find. 

Such  is  life  and  luck  among  the  gold  hunters  of  the 
world. 


54 


V. 

There  has  been  a  wide  discussion  as  to  the  origin  of 
gold  nuggets.  One  of  the  most  acceptable  theories  was 
formulated  by  Alfred  R.  C.  Selwyn,  a  former  Victorian 
government  geologist.  Mr.  Selwyn  believes  that  nug- 
gets have  been  formed  through  the  deposition  of  metallic 
gold  (analogous  to  electro-plating)  from  the  meteoric 
waters  which  circulate  through  the  drifts,  and  which 
must  have  been,  during  the  time  of  the  extensive  basaltic 
eruptions,  of  a  thermal  and  probably  highly  saline  char- 
acter, favorable  to  their  carrying  gold  in  solution.  That 
nuggets  in  general  are  almost  free  from  impurities  is  an 
argument  against  their  origin  in  common  with  small 
particles  of  gold  in  quartz  veins;  and,  again,  it  is  note- 
worthy that  large  pieces  of  gold  are  not  usually  found  in 
veins.  Much  stress  is  laid  on  the  fact  that  nuggets  are 
sometimes  found  at  a  considerable  distance  from  a 
quartz  ledge;  but  it  has  not  probably  been  considered 
that  the  ledge  from  whence  the  mass  was  derived  may 
have  been  completely  carried  away,  and  that  the  origin 
of  the  gold  may  not  have  been  in  what  is  now  the  near- 
est ledge.  Floating  masses  of  quartz — such  as  are  found 
at  Inglewood — may  have  contained  many  nuggets,  and 
where  the  gold  they  contained  was  set  free  the  miner 
would  look  in  vain  for  the  ledge.  The  conditions  under 

55 


which  a  mass  of  gold  might  be  moved  to  a  great  distance 
when  embedded  in  a  rock  of  low  specific  gravity  have 
also  to  be  considered.  Many  mineralogists  say  that  the 
purity  of  alluvial  gold  is  the  result  of  exposure  for  long 
periods  to  the  action  of  water  and  atmospheric  air, 
whereby  the  silver,  copper,  iron,  etc.,  with  which  the  gold 
in  the  veins  is  alloyed,  have  been  decomposed  and  re- 
moved; and,  as  large  pieces  of  gold  have  been  found  in 


Nugget  Found  at  Crawford  Mine,  Stanley  Co.,  N.  C.,  on  Southern  Railway, 

August  22nd,  1895.    Weight  10  Pounds.    Picture 

About  Three-Fifths  Actual  Size. 


quartz  veins,  and  nearly  all  large  nuggets  have  had 
quartz  adhering  to  or  intermixed  with  them,  it  is  argued 
that  nuggets  have  been  formed  in  the  veins  in  the  same 
way,  and  probably  at  the  same  time,  as  the  smaller  pieces 
of  gold.  That  as  many  large  pieces  of  gold  have  not 
been  found  in  the  veins  as  in  the  alluviums  is  just  what 

56 


might  have  been  expected.  Every  superficial  foot  of  au- 
riferous drifts  represents  many  thousand  feet  vertical  of 
veins;  and,  until  the  existing  veins  have  been  completely 
explored,  and  ground  down  and  worked  to  a  depth  equal 
to  that  operated  on  by  the  denuding  forces  of  nature 
during  past  ages,  it  cannot  be  said  whether  or  not  the 
proportion  of  nuggets  found  in  the  alluviums  is  in  ex- 
cess. The  Welcome  Stranger,  the  largest  nugget  ever 
known,  had  obviously  been  embedded  in  quartz.  The 
hundredweight  of  gold  discovered  on  Dr.  Kerr's  station, 
in  New  South  Wales,  was  taken  from  a  vein  which 
cropped  out  on  the  surface.  "The  largest  of  the  blocks." 
we  are  told,  ''was  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  weighed 
75  pounds  gross.  Out  of  this  piece,  60  pounds  of  pure 
gold  was  taken.  Before  separation  it  was  beautifully 
encased  in  quartz."  Every  nugget,  whether  large  or 
small,  which  has  not  presented  indications  of  being  very 
much  worn,  has  borne  with  it  proofs  that  it  had  been 
broken  out  of  a  vein.  The  most  careless  examination  of 
any  large  piece  of  gold  would  satisfy  the  observer  that  it 
had  not  been  formed  differently  from  smaller  pieces;  but- 
whatever  is  uncommon  is,  of  course,  generally  marvel- 
ous. 

From  one  of  the  deep  leads  in  Avoca,  a  large,  smooth 
bowlder  of  quartz  containing  a  piece  of  gold  which,  de- 
tached from  the  quartz,  would  form  a  nugget  of  consid- 
erable size,  was  obtained.  The  gold  was  firmly  embedded 
in  the  quartz,  and  has  taken  the  rounded  form  so  com- 
pletely as  to  present,  in  fact,  almost  an  even  surface.  It 

57 


is  probable  that  the  mass,  when  detached  from  the  reef, 
was  caught  in  some  hole  in  the  rock,  and  was  gradually 
shaped  by  attrition  in  that  spot,  and  not  moved  violently 
in  the  bed  of  the  stream,  where  it  would  have  been 
broken  and  set  free  the  gold.  Many  remarkable  gran- 
itic pebbles,  as  large  as  cannon  balls,  and  formed  in  this 
manner,  are  preserved  in  the  local  museum  at  Beech- 
worth.  More  weight  might  be  attached  to  the  theory 
that  nuggets  have  been  formed  in  alluviums  and  Tertiary 
strata  through  the  deposition  of  metallic  gold  from  the 
meteoric  waters  which  circulate  through  the  drifts  if 
these  masses  of  gold  were  found  only  in  deep  leads ;  but 
large  nuggets  have  been  found  protruding  from  the  soil, 
or  buried  only  a  few  inches,  and  lying  on  the  bedrock  in 
most  recent  gravels,  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  the 
goldfields  most  remote  from  the  basaltic  areas  have  been 
the  richest  in  large  nuggets. 


VI. 

Our  readers  will  doubtless  be  interested  in  the  follow- 
ing tables,  which  give  the  gold  and  silver  production  of 
the  world  for  the  years  1896,  1897,  1898,  1899:— 
UNITED  STATES. 


State  or  Territory. 
Alaska  

1896. 
Value, 
(a) 
$2,055,700 

1897. 

Value, 
(a) 
$2,700,000 

1898. 

Value, 
(a) 
$2,820,000 

1899. 

Value, 
(a) 
$5,125,000 

Arizona   

2,570,000 

2,700,000 

2,400,000 

2,575,000 

California  

,    15,235,900 

15,000,000 

15,300,000 

14,800,000 

Colorado  

.   14,867,971 

19,579,637 

23,534,531 

26,508,675 

Idaho  

2,155,300 

2,000,000 

2,050,000 

1,750,000 

Michigan  

37,200 

(c) 

(c) 

(c) 

Montana  

4,324,700 

4,496,431 

5,274,913 

4,819,157 

Nevada  

2,410,538 

3,000,000 

3,000,000 

2,371,882 

New  Mexico  
Oregon  

475,800 
1,226,000 

470,000 
1,354,593 

480,000 
1,216,669 

500,000 
1,275,000 

South  Dakota  

4,910,000 

5,300,000 

5,720,000 

5,800,000 

Southern  States  (b) 
Utah 

264,300 

I  80O  QOO 

249,737 
i  845  0^8 

263,153 

2  372  442 

500,000 
3,506,582 

Washington  

405,700 

449,664 

6OO,OOO 

750,000 

Other  States  

29,200 

64,795 

77,722 

44,725 

Total  domestic  . 
Foreign  .  . 

.$52,886,209 
8.461.023 

$59,210,795 

I2.OQI.500 

$65,082,430 
22.024.60O 

$70,096,021 
20,422,691 

(a)  I  oz.  gold  equals  $20.67;     (b)     South     Carolina,     North 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama,    (c)  Included  with  other  States. 

GOLD  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Countries.                              1897.  1898.  1899. 

America,  North — 

United  States $59,210,786  $65,082,430  $70,096,021 

Canada 6,027,016  13,700,000  21,049,730 

Newfoundland 62,010  62,010  62,010 

Mexico    67,121,189  8,236,720  9,277,351 

Central  America 525,000  505,096  485,158 

America,  South — 

Argentina I37,7oo  137,700  137,700 

Bolivia 343oOo  343>5OO  343,500 

Brazil 1,462,120  1,583,700  1,583,700 

Chile  (b) 1,407,623  1,240,000  1,129,820 

Columbia 3,900,000  3,700,000  3,400,000 

Equador 132,900  39,500  39,50O 

Guiana  (British) 2,098,098  2,048,297  2,238,040 

Guiana  (Dutch) 681,784  568,898  557,532 

Guiana  (French) 1,237,310  1,644,260  1,605,088 

Peru 465,220  652,593  657.905 

59 


Uruguay 

Venezuela 

Europe — 

Austria 

Hungary 

France 

Germany    

Italy 

Norway 

Portugal 

Russia 

Spain 

Sweden 

Turkey.  • 

United  Kingdom 

Africa: — 

So.  African  Republic 

Rhodesia 

Soudan 

West  Coast 

Asia — 

Madagascar 

Borneo 

China 

India  (British) 

Japan 

Korea 

Malay  Peninsula 

Australasia,  7  cols 

Other  countries    


38,506 

38,506 

1,057,379 

996,900 

44,927 

47,520 

2,038,993 

1,839,506 

183,430 

177,448 

240,890 

73,771 

213,014 

124,878 

11,098 

665 
11,098 

21,538,490 

24,734,418 

37,888 

39,873 

75,299 

83,672 

7,975 

7,75i 

34,962 

36,321 

56,718,679 

78,070,761 

Nil 

433,682 

55,830 

55,830 

400,000 

65,110 

999,653 

720,248 

110,977 

110,977 

6,641,190 

6,641,190 

7,299,554 

7,765,807 

713,300 

790,826 

1,094,000 

1,145,769 

5i6,750 

5i6,75o 

52,491,279 

62,294,481 

450,000 

45o,ooo 

38,506 
963,670 

47,520 

1,839,506 

177,448 

73,771 

124,878 

665 

11,098 

23,963,017 

39,873 

83,672 

7,751 

10,000 

72,961,501 
1,121,170 

55,830 
65,110 

700,000 

110,977 

6,645,612 

8,385,467 
1,200,000 

1,145,769 

524,997 

79,206,130 

500,000 


Totals $237,833,984  $286,803,462  $312,307,819 


The  silver  production  of  the  world  for  1898  and  1899 
was  as  follows: 
PRODUCTION  IN  SILVER  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

1898.  1899. 

State  or                                                                Com'l  Com'l 

Territory.                                                                    value  value 

(a)  (a) 

Alaska $87,390  $163,845 

Arizona 1,310,850  1,191,600 

California 378,690  357,48o 

Colorado 13,692,615  13,771,731 

Idaho : 3,661,492  2,859,840 

Montana 8,633,352  10,039,680 

Nevada 466,080  342,585 

New  Mexico 262,170  253,215 

Oregon 74,763  83,412 

60 


South  Dakota 189,345 

Texas 291,300 

Utah 3,827,773 

Washington 160,215 

Others 29,388 


208,530 
268,110 
4,279,695 
178,740 
37,705 

Totals $33,065,482    $34,036,168 

(a)     The  average  value  in  1896  was  67.10.  per  oz.,  59.790.  in 
1897,  58.260.  in  1898,  and  59.580.  in  1890. 


SILVER  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD. 

1898.  1899- 

Countries        .  Com'l  Com'l 

value  value 

America,  North — 

United  States $33,065,482  $34,036,168 

Canada 2,616,1 10  1,834,371 

Mexico   33,546,885  32,788,565 

Central  America 957,909  862,001 

America,  South — 

Argentina 226,301  228,526 

Bolivia 6,155,084  6,215,784 

Chile  3,439430  3439,430 

Columbia 971,217  980,764 

Ecuador 4,779  4,826 

Peru    3,411,116  3,411,116 

Europe — 

Austria 764,347  772,063 

Hungary 256,600  360,106 

France 272,017  274,690 

Germany..    3,287,893  3,320,215 

Greece 768,850  771,512 

Italy 823,968  832,068 

Norway 101,784  102,784 

Portugal 2,267  3,481 

Russia 164,324  155-390 

Servia 10,812  10,919 

Spain 4,343,922  3,245,930 

Sweden 

Turkey , 38,563  38,943 

United  Kingdom 138,916  134,223 

Asia—                                            124,722  125,947 

Dutch  East  Indies 759  766 

Japan s 979,326  989,154 

Australasia 8,742,499  9,131,688 

Other  countires  28,453  28,733 

Totals $105,364,505  $104,100,163 

6l 


VII. 

All  the  indications  are  that  the  world's  output  of  gold 
will  continue  to  increase  for  many  years  to  come.  Not 
only  are  new  processes  saving  gold  that  it  was  impossible 
to  save  ten  years  ago,  but  new  gold  camps  are  springing 
into  life,  and  old  silver  mines  are  developing  into  gold 
propositions  as  greater  depth  is  attained.  We  predict 
that  within  the  next  twenty  years  Alaska  and  the  North- 
west Territory  will  yield  over  $1,000,000,000,  and  that  by 
1925  they  will  contain  a  population  of  over  1,000,000. 

A  question  that  is  perplexing  our  Treasury  officials  is. 
What  becomes  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  gold  that  is 
mined  and  put  in  circulation  ?  There  is  used  in  the  arts 
annually — in  gilding,  electro-plating,  and  similar  opera- 
tions, which  withdraw  gold  from  possibility  of  other  use 
— probably  not  less  than  $10,000,000. 

The  use  of  solid  gold  in  jewelry  and  plate,  while  not 
so  directly  a  withdrawal  of  gold  from  circulation,  since  it 
can  be  re-melted  and  coined,  does  expose  it  to  greater 
waste  from  friction  and  increased  risk  of  loss.  This  use 
now  amounts  to  about  $50,000,000  a  year. 

Gold  coin  loses  weight  constantly  from  trituration,  not 
to  speak  of  actual  loss,  by  fire,  shipwreck  and  carelessness. 

Since  the  resumption  of  specie,  payments  in  1879 
Treasury  officials  estimate  that  $300,000,000  has  disap- 

62 


peared  from  circulation.  The  Bank  of  England  is  said 
to  be  poorer  by  $100,000,000  in  gold  than  it  was  in  1897. 
France  reports  an  immense  decrease  in  gold  coined  and  in 
reserve,  and  other  countries  have  similar  stories  to  tell. 
An  inquiry  recently  set  afoot  by  our  Treasury  Department 
showed  that  the  holdings  of  the  National  banks  on  April 
26  were  $195,769,872.  The  Treasury  holdings  May  I 
were  $426,989,371,  the  two  items  aggregating  $622,759,- 
243.  The  estimate  for  May  i  was  $1,043,525,117,  which 
left  $420,000,000  to  be  accounted  for  as  held  by  State  and 
private  banks,  trust  companies,  and  in  safes,  tills,  pockets 
and  hoards. 

A  large  amount  of  gold  is  taken  out  of  the  country  by 
travelers.  One  tourist  agency  receives  from  travelers 
from  $100,000  to  $150,000  per  year  and  turns  it  in  to  the 
Bank  of  England.  About  $75,000  per  annum  is  melted 
at  Geneva,  and  in  all  a  net  loss  of  $600,000  to  $800,000  is 
indicated.  At  the  later  rate  in  twenty-five  years  the  total 
would  be  $20,000,000.  Inquiries  made  of  45,000  firms 
and  individuals  indicate  a  total  consumption  of  coin  by 
manufacturers,  jewelers,  dentists,  etc.,  of  $3,500,000  per 
year.  The  official  estimate  of  the  entire  stock  of  gold  in 
the  country  was  $1,053,518,892  at  the  beginning  of 
August  last. 

While  gold  disappears  rapidly  in  the  United  States,. 
India  and  China  are  virtual  graveyards  of  the  precious 
metal.  A  yellow  stream  flows  into  both  countries  year  by 
year.  There  is  no  end  to  this  stream ;  it  is  always  flow- 
ing. The  money  does  not  reappear  in  the  Indian  banks.. 

63 


The  soil  of  India  absorbs  the  golden  flood  just  as  the 
sands  of  the  desert  swallow  the  overflow  of  the  great 
rivers.  When  it  is  remembered  that  this  work  of  absorp- 
tion has  been  going  on  with  little  interruption  for  ten  cen- 
turies, and  still  continues  under  our  eyes,  it  is  easy  to 
form  an  idea  of  the  immense  treasures  that  are  hidden  in 
that  country.  All  this  gold  remains  sterile,  and,  conse- 
quently, is  lost.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that  it  is  brought  into 
monetary  circulation  or  that  it  passes  through  the  hands 
of  the  native  goldsmiths.  It  is  disseminated  in  innumer- 
able places,  from  which  it  never  emerges. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  the  presidency  of  Bombay  alone 
there  are  12,000,000  gold  sovereigns  hoarded.  Hun- 
dreds upon  hundereds  of  millions  of  dollars  lie  in  the 
hiding  places  of  the  famine  stricken  land.  All  classes 
are  afflicted  with  the  incurable  habit  of  gold  hoarding. 
The  splendid  Maharajahs  have  become  shrewd  enough  to 
use  banks  of  deposit,  but  there  is  still  barbaric  display  of 
jewelled  idols  in  the  strong  rooms,  and  of  golden  vessels 
in  the  Princes'  apartments. 

Even  the  gods  of  India,  remarked  a  writer  in  the 
Courner  des  Htais  Unis,  are  very  fond  of  gold.  They 
whistle  for  it  through  the  lips  of  their  priests.  Obedient 
to  the  divine  call,  it  comes  rippling  from  all  points,  until, 
it  reaches  the  sacred  parvis.  It  accumulates  in  the  sub- 
terranean passages  of  the  temples,  to  which  the  priests 
alone  have  access.  Thence  it  overflows  and  takes  its 
place  like  a  proud  conqueror,  upon  the  altars,  where  it 
shares  with  the  gods  the  incense  and  the  homage  of  the 
men  whom  it  has  bewitched. 

It  seems  curious  that  while  half  the  world  is  engaged 
in  an  eager  search  for  gold,  the  teeming  populations  of 
India  and  China  devote  most  of  their  energies  to  keep- 
ing it  out  of  use  and  circulation. 

64 


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